By: Gabriela Yareliz
There are people who say ‘hi’ like Ross Geller.
As Joey states, they make you depressed when you interact with them. It’s like they are never ok. In fact, you are in a bad mood before you even speak to them because you know what is coming. You armor up.
I was reading about gratitude this morning in Uprising by Erwin McManus. He interestingly states that perpetual brokenness is often dependent on a lack of gratitude. We are all broken to one degree or another. We all have cracks, but note it says ‘perpetual brokenness.’
He states, “Whatever else we may need, whatever support systems might be helpful to us, whatever insights or truths may aid us in the journey, nothing will heal us if we are ungrateful. No truth, no matter how profound, will find its way into a heart that is absent of gratitude.”
Sometimes, life is hard. Oftentimes, it is. And yet we get nothing from trying to one-up each other with misery or spreading our own misfortune. I have heard people compete on how scared or cautious they are or how miserable they can make those around them. (These are often the dumb conversations that fill empty Zoom space). We should have our moments as humans in the flesh, but I like this emphasis on the fact that there is always a way to frame something that is happening in the frame of gratitude. Even in the mess, there are helpers; there are little gifts; there are things we are spared from.
I also found interesting that our lack of gratitude not only makes us and those around us miserable, but it also blocks our healing and truth from entering in. We imprison ourselves (and sometimes hold others hostage, if they get too close). We become sort of deaf and blind to the good that may be around us.
In short, don’t be Ross. Be Joey.
GABRIELA YARELIZ 