Source https://zenhabits.net/gratitude/
By Leo Babauta
As many give thanks for what’s in their lives this week, we might look at how to go deeper with gratitude.
“Gratitude” seems like a trite and even perhaps boring topic to many — we all know we should be grateful.
And yet, there are ways that we aren’t cultivating gratitude … and our lives could be much easier, even richer, if we did use gratitude in these deeper ways.
Let’s take a few examples.
Boredom
I was talking to a friend recently about how she doesn’t like to stay in stillness and quiet, because it feels boring. She realizes this probably isn’t good for her, as she often feels the need to move, to keep busy. And she’d like to learn to be more present, slow down at times.
The answer to boredom is gratitude.
Let’s think about a situation: you turn off your phone, get away from the computer, and go sit outside with no book, no device, no one to talk to, nothing to do.
You just sit there.
How useful is that? How interesting? How productive? You might answer “not at all” to these questions, and it might seem boring. But I believe that’s because we’re not 1) paying close enough attention, and 2) appreciating the gift of that moment.
If I’m sitting alone with nothing to do, I might have the urge to get up and go do something, or reach for my phone. But …