Tag: Gratitude
An Unpublished Song for 2020
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Two weeks ago, Antonio Monteiro reached out to me in response to my blog post on to How to Use Our Problems to Feel Grateful. Antonio and I go back to the days when I was priest.
More recently we’ve been in touch since I gave a series of workshops at the Air Traffic Control Centre where he works an Aeronautical Information and Communications Technician.
Antonio shared with me a song he composed this summer. The lyrics were written by his brother, Fernando. I asked them to post it here because it has a powerful message for this tough year. Click below to have a listen. Thank you, Antonio and Fernando.
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Stop watching the news, boy
Step into the light
So many beautiful things
Waiting to brighten up your eye
Discover those moments
You cherish the most
Smile every time you can
Even when it’s so hard, man
And live every moment
Like it’s your last
The future is in you
No control over the past
Stop watching the news, girl
You’re better that
Lookout for that sunshine
That always warms the truth
Laugh more with your friends
Embrace every hug
Be grateful for what you have
Even when it’s not so much
And live every moment
Like it’s your last
The future is in you
No control over the past
Stop watching the news, boy
Stop watching the news, girl
Get out there and love life
Everything will be alright
Stop watching the news, girl
Stop watching the news, boy
Get out there and love life
Everything will be alright
How to Use Your Problems to Feel Grateful
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Gratitude is powerful because it is virtually impossible to be in a bad emotional place and feel grateful. When we’re grateful we don’t feel angry or fearful or anxious or depressed.
However, it is sometimes hard to summon up the past experiences we are grateful for, or we struggle to remember that we’ve been through worse. In these cases, we can use the present to get into a state of gratitude.
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1. Comparison: This can get SO much worse
Acknowledging that things can get much worse, that there are many people much worse off will blow away the clouds of our shortsightedness of the negative to let the sun of gratitude shine on all the other things we do enjoy in our lives.
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2. Perspective: This will make me grateful in the future
Another way to use the present to feel grateful when we are going through a tough time is to bring to mind that my difficult present will become a memory I will be able to use to feel grateful for in the future. Strangely enough, this allows us to feel grateful today because it will be a source of gratefulness in the future.
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