a life full of gratitude

I both love and hate the mundanity of life. I hate it because, in many ways, it seems to smother the magic out of living, making everything feel repetitive and dull. But I also love it because it’s the very thing that gives our souls an authentically human experience—the small, quiet moments that ground us in the present, making life feel real and meaningful.

Gratitude plays a key role in how we navigate the mundane. Even in the repetitive, mechanical motion of day-to-day living, we still get to feel, touch, breathe, move, and experience what it means to be in the flesh, walking the earth to the best of our ability. I like to say that gratitude fills all the little voids in our lives—those empty parts we can’t always see, but we can definitely feel. When we fill these gaps with gratitude, everything else we're already happy with becomes amplified. In this way, gratitude itself becomes a form of fullness.

The picture I chose for this essay shows a small staircase filled with journals that appear to have been filled in. I chose this image because it represents the idea that to experience life in a way that inspires you to capture so many moments is a form of gratitude in itself—whether or not the person overtly expresses it.

So, what is gratitude and how do we express it? Let’s start with what gratitude is. As Aesop once famously said, "Gratitude turns what we have into enough." Gratitude is being content with everything you have in this moment and not longing for more. The person who constantly feels like they don’t have enough and is driven by a desire for more is suffering in a life devoid of gratitude. Their voids are many, and they don't experience the fullness of life.

Now, let's talk about how to express gratitude. You express gratitude by living a life of fullness. And you live a life of fullness by fully experiencing your life, even in the moments that feel mundane. It's not as simple as it sounds, especially during a time when greed is propelled by you longing for more—rich men literally get richer from your suffering inflicted by desiring more.

So, to adopt a life full of gratitude, you must be willing to shift your entire mindset to abundance. That means that even if your page is empty and your bank account is at zero, you still see life through a lens of abundance. You do this by showing up to each day with intention and conscious awareness. Decide each morning what kind of day you're going to have and move through the day with mindfulness while practicing contentment.

And carry your contentment into those slow, monotonous moments. Try to find joy in those moments when you have absolutely nothing else going on in your life. Learn to be okay with what you have while sitting in silence and stillness, and erase your boredom and lack with gratitude.

So, the key to living a life filled with gratitude is consciously choosing to live a life of abundance through contentment. You have enough. You are enough.