Gratitude in crisis- What I learnt in my life

“Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.”

-Brian Tracy.

Yes, many people help us. Many good things happen to us when they help. But we fail to see them all. So we don’t give thanks to them. Do you know what happens when you give thanks or show gratitude to them? When you do so repeatedly, then grow a habit of showing gratitude to others who help you. Once you make this habit, then the similar situations where you can give thanks start coming more to your life. It’s a natural law.

Who does not want to have such amazing moments? Everyone wants. Do you know how do you benefit from an attitude of gratitude? The present post answers. 

In the first place,  my attitude of gratitude helped me in my life. Equally, it taught me to make the right decisions in the crisis.

How does it help you? It opens doors to happiness, better relationships, better physical and mental health so on so forth. It makes your state of mind positive too. If I make a list of things I am grateful for what I have, then its length will extend to infinity.

Gratitude attitude helps

As an illustration, I am reflecting on the few situations. They certainly affected my life so much.

Jhoru – the hero of the first situation criticized me constructively.  His constructive criticism inspired me to study hard for qualifying in IIT-JEE in the year 1977. It helped me to succeed in life as well. How did it help me? You can see my earlier blog with the link: here for details.

When I reflect on this situation, I always thank Jhoru for criticizing me and ultimately leading to my present life as the engineer in SAIL-ISP, Burnpur, West Bengal, India. To maintain an attitude of gratitude towards Jhoru, we always invite him to any occasions or any ceremony in my home.

It is not difficult to maintain a gratitude attitude in our happy moments. When unhappy crises of life test us, it is very difficult to maintain it.

Crises of my life

First crisis

We were traveling by bus to the place of my father-in-law in the year 2004. All of a sudden it skidded into a small pond by the road. As a result, three passengers were killed. But God had saved us. What happened to us? Nothing serious happened to us. We sustained some minor injuries. So we healed within a few days.

We all are grateful to God. Since then, I had advised my family members “God has saved our lives. Without HIS grace, we could have been killed like three co-passengers. Always think good and do good to others. Then God saves us all the time.”

Second crisis

The dreaded road accident at Nagpur killed one friend of my elder son on January 8, 2017. All the three bones of his right leg broke in the accident. He not only fought with the pain of broken bones but also with the fat embolism in ICU. We prayed to God and never gave up hope. And he survived, completed his MBA, and finally got a job in Noida. So we are grateful to GOD. We are thankful to his batch mates and the authorities of IIM, Nagpur for how they supported us in our crisis. Maintaining a gratitude attitude in a crisis always pay.

Third crisis

Lastly, as my wife was suffering from Stefen Johnson syndrome caused due to a sulfur drug reaction,  I had to admit my wife to the Tropical Medicine of Kolkata on September 7, 2017. I give sincere thanks to my friend Sri D.Kundu who helped so much in her admission process into the hospital. All the attending doctors helped her to recover from the worst skin disease. Finally, she survived. My heartfelt thanks to the doctors and GOD who saved our lives. Again maintaining a gratitude attitude in a crisis proved to pay.

Action Steps

1. Always think good and do good to others. So good things will come back to you.
2. Pray to GOD. Show gratitude to HIM for what you have.
3. Never give up hope. Things will improve soon.
4. Find out the reasons to be thankful for.
5. Then make a habit of making a list of things you are grateful for.what you have achieved so far.
6. Before sleep, give thanks silently to those who helped during the day