How important is gratitude? Important enough to make it a conscious process every day of your life.
Allow me to illustrate with a little analogy. Imagine that you are standing on a beach. You have 100
pounds of seaweed in your right hand. It is wet, heavy, messy, smelly, tangled, and has bugs crawling in it.
It is generally unpleasant in virtually every way. However, you don’t want to drop it because you perceive
that, mixed in with the unpleasant seaweed, are many important things you would not want to drop. So,
you hang on.
In your left hand you have one tiny, shiny grain of sand. Though it is small, it is very pleasant to look at
as it catches the sunlight. If you were to look at this shiny grain of sand under a magnifying glass you
would see that it looks almost like a jewel or gem because it has been polished by the pounding waves for
thousands of years.
What weighs more, the seaweed or the grain of sand? Of course, the seaweed far outweighs the grain
of sand. But what does each represent? The seaweed represents all the problems, trials, challenges,
annoyances, frustrations, inundation and stress that often accompany some of the weighty, urgent,
important things in our lives.
The tiny, shiny grain of sand represents the little things in life that we feel good about. It could be any
little thing, even as small as cleaning your sock drawer and feeling good about it, or doing a good deed for
someone, or appreciating the beauty of a rare double rainbow. These are the small things in life that we
feel good about. As nice as these little things are, and as good as they make us feel, the seaweed still far
outweighs the individual grains of sand. However, where did I say you were standing? That’s right, on a
beach! And what weighs more, the hundred pounds of seaweed or the entire beach? Of course, it is not
even close. The beach may weigh millions of tons. We need to count the tiny, shiny grains of sand in our
lives so that they can accumulate in our hearts and minds, thus forming a beach of happiness, peace, and
success. Oh, the seaweed will still be there, but I can promise you it will pale in comparison to the beach
full of wonderful things in your life. Now, there’s something to be grateful for.
Allow me to extend to you a call to action – a little accountability if you will. By the end of the day create a
Victory/Gratitude Journal. This can be electronic or paper, whichever you prefer. This is a place to write
down the small things that are victories in your life, the shiny grains of sand. You will be amazed at how
much more you have to be grateful for when the small things don’t go unnoticed and uncounted. Learn
ways to invite gratitude into your life and more. Visit our website at www.ylwisdom.com to receive a free
mentoring session.
To Your Success!
Troie D. Battles
Managing Partner
YL Wisdom
troieb@ylwisdom.com
www.ylwisdom.com
