I am on Day 9 of my workshop and I read these words. GRATITUDE IS ATTITUDE. It resonated because of several things. Your attitude is so important and the right attitude is a reason for gratitude. But there are two sides to the coin and sometimes attitude can be something negative. Still with me?
That is why many people say, and rightly so, that the way you begin your day, sets the theme for the rest of it. If you are one of those people who jumps out of bed, rushes into the shower and gets dressed in a hurry, grabbing a coffee and something to eat as you run out of the door, then you can be sure that the rest of your day will continue in this same rush.
Thankfully, I personally left the rat race a long time ago. This does not mean that I stopped working, as I worked from home. Something which was quite new for a lot of people during the recent pandemic, but with today’s technology, working at home is so much easier. No travel, no distractions, peace and quiet, but at the same time, no social interaction. No chats over coffee or lunch. Basically, you are alone with your laptop or computer and working with the WiFi, your phone and Zoom (the latest trend for meetings). It works well and taking breaks is actually easier, as you do them when you want and not when others expect you to.
But back to my title: And I have an example of something that happened to me only yesterday. Concerning attitude. This may be controversial for a lot of you to read, but it’s purely an example and not criticism (well at least I will try not to criticize). A lot of my neighbors are Germans who have houses in this region and the pandemic kept them away for a long time. It was lovely to be honest, peaceful and quiet and not that overpowering energy that I feel when they are here. Why is this energy overpowering you may ask? I think it’s attitude. A lot are what is commonly referred to as ‘senior citizens’ and to be honest why the hurry, why the rat race, why the attitude? But, in some or other inexplicable way, the attitude is still going. Even all these years later. The Netherlands was invaded by the Germans in the war. They just took over the country. They loved the sea, missed it being a basically landlocked country with only a sea border in the north, but it is that attitude that it still is theirs, which I find – irritating!
Even though the younger generation and even I was not born during the war years, are different and more modern in their thinking, but the older ones are still stuck in that negative energy and I wonder why? I don’t have an answer, but it is still there. I was coming back with my dog having taken him for a walk and would you believe it, I haven’t seen them for months so I just said: ‘Hi’ and they both turned their backs on me and said nothing. No nothing! Not even a polite greeting. It could be that this is caused by the fact that there is something happening in my own family which makes people react in the strangest ways. Really the strangest ways and what is the reason? Is it because they don’t know what to say, are afraid of saying the wrong thing or what? Or are they just downright rude?
Well, my experience with the Germans here is that they are very overpowering, very loud and literally take over the place upon arrival. They have had homes here for years and still do not make any attempt to speak the language, just blurb on with their hard sounding own one. They just take over and its boring! Yes, it really is, and it surprises me that they still behave this way. Certainly, when I go to another country, I not only try to speak a little bit of the language even if it’s only good morning, please and thank you. And I adapt. I adapt the best way I can to their culture and their rules. Then I ask the question why doesn’t is happen the other way around then?
It’s attitude. Pure and simple, just attitude. Ingrained generation karma which they still carry and very empathetic people and people who are susceptible to energy, feel it, big time, just like me. And this is what I mean about the negativity which can connect with attitude.
Find the right attitude and gratitude should happen automatically, shouldn’t it? It all depends on you and the way you act, think and present yourself to others. The right attitude leads then to gratitude and life in general seems to go a lot easier.
It is quite an interesting exercise to write something down every day for things you are grateful for. On a small piece of paper and then fold it and put it into a glass jar. My friend Liz Gilbert calls it ‘her happiness jar’. When it gets full and you empty everything out and read all the notes you made, you realize how much gratitude you have and had, even for really small things in life. It is not about the size but about the feeling it gave you. If you ‘counted your blessings and felt gratitude’. Do you? Could you write down something every single day? I know I could and it may be something so simple as the ‘smell of new mown grass’ or the ‘birds singing’ or the ‘smell of fresh bread baking’, or well … just anything that gives you that feeling of gratitude.
When you have gratitude, you then have the right attitude.
Food for thought, isn’t it?
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