Gratitude—The Vital Ingredient in Our Lives
Dr. Tom Costa is founder of the Religious Science Church of The Desert in Palm Desert, California, and is currently on the Board of Directors of Religious Science International. His popularity as a public speaker has resulted in a number of television appearances, as well as lectures and seminars throughout the United States, Canada, and England. Tom is the author of LIFE! YOU WANNA MAKE SOMETHING OF IT?
My attitude of gratitude has been developing for the last seven decades of my life.
My deep feelings for the spiritual privilege of being grateful were tested when I first became a minister in 1974. I was counseling a man who was quite unhappy. Here was a man who was in good health, played tennis daily, was successful financially, and who loved his work. I had just performed the wedding ceremony for him and his new and devoted wife, and he also had a loving family from his previous marriage. Yet, although every area of his life—health, wealth, love, and work—seemed fulfilled, he was STILL unhappy.
As a new minister, I was stymied; what could I pray for? How could I help him move through his depression? As we continued our sessions, what came out was this man’s lack of gratefulness. He never gave thanks for his health, his wealth, his children, his home, or life itself. He took everything for granted. This inspired me to find out more about this nebulous but vital ingredient in our lives…GRATITUDE.
How well I remember years ago when I was doing what is referred to as a Fifth Step in the Twelve Steps of the Alcoholics Anonymous program. The Fifth Step is the one where someone, perhaps a member of the clergy, would listen to an account of the alcoholic’s life up to the time of admitting to their alcoholism. A young lady remarked to me, “You cannot be grateful and unhappy at the same time.”
I was probably about 40 years older than she was at the time, but I was spiritually stunned. I had never heard that “one-liner” before, and it made sense! Since then, I have used that thought throughout my ministry—in classes, seminars, and in my personal life. YOU CANNOT BE GRATEFUL AND UNHAPPY AT THE SAME TIME. It is truly emotionally impossible to do both.
As I think about this concept, I flash back to my Catholic upbringing, where we used a rosary. Personally, now I have what I call a mental Rosary of Gratefulness. I count the “beads,” if you will, daily and often in my morning meditations and prayers. This is when I count MY blessings, and not someone else’s.
This period of gratitude in my life does not occur just on the third Thursday in November. This time of thanks is something I implement into each and every day. I have so many beads to count…beads representing people who have helped me…beads representing people who didn’t help me (for this made me stronger in every area of my life). There are beads representing close, intimate friends, my family…beads representing my health, my body, my physical senses, my home that I treasure and enjoy. I give thanks for my pets, who teach me daily unconditional love. I give thanks for my ability to choose my thoughts, my attitudes, my path.
Take a moment of time daily, and be grateful for all that you are and for all that you are not. Be grateful for all that you have and for all that you do not have.
REMEMBER: YOU CANNOT BE GRATEFUL AND UNHAPPY AT THE SAME TIME!
