Intentional gratitude.
It’s simple. It’s powerful. It requires (the illusion of) free will.
If I had to pick one singular practice that has made the most significant positive impact on me, it’s the practice of intentional gratitude. I know this not because I walk around in some enlightened state. I know it because I rarely walk around in that enlightened state.
Until I start practicing again, and then I taste it again.
I fall off the wagon, and the spiral starts. I kick against it. I lay my head on the soft pillow of victimhood. I think, “why?”
But deep down, I know. I fight against it for a while with excuses like time, difficulty, and “It won’t keep working.” Then I sit down in the quiet morning before I start the work day and get started. I make the list. I think about the list.
And slowly, if I commit, my mood lightens over the next few days or weeks. I feel less burdened. Therefore, I am less of a burden.
I know it because I observe those around me, and I see the spectrum. Light resonating off like a main sequence star or getting sucked in like a black hole.
The real magic of practicing intentional gratitude is that you can change everything without changing anything.
I don’t know if biochemistry precedes the thought or if the thought proceeds from biochemistry.
But would an AI ever think to itself, “I’m blessed.”
