Lose your gratitude & you lose your mind & sanity.
What is the Point of Life for us Humans?
What the point of life is , I cannot say, except for myself**. One can only answer that for oneself, based on experience, and it should be a private personal matter, just as private and personal is the entire journey of life (though some amongst us, more unsure of their answer, may be eager to forcefully push their view). That said, as a communal based carbon-based mammal, I take this moment to compare notes (this is a blog, BTW) as to what the point of life definitely is NOT, and that can be of utility.
1. It is not fair, otherwise, no one would ever break our heart or steal our stuff.
2. It is not a fairy tale, otherwise, happy endings for everyone would be the standard.
3. It is not Club Med, otherwise, we could have endless food.
4. It's none of that, and if you believe that latest statistics on depression (worldwide, more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression) we have all misled into believing that this world, this life owes us something that we are not getting. Really?
What Life Owes Us Humans
We have become quite willingly, with absolutely no evolutionary or survival advantage, our own worst enemy through our attitudes and self-perception. Somehow, we have slipped into a dream-like (nightmarish) state of pride and arrogance. We are headed for a real reckoning, a real re-set.
It did not happen overnight, but over the ages, we tended to blindly listen to the wrong sources of information and inspiration. We started forgetting who and what we are.
As a result of forgetting our « true » nature, we have weakened our bodies and minds by self-indulgence and folkloric understanding as to what this thing called « life » owes us, which is essentially nothing.
Nothing at all, not fairness, not truth, not beauty, not faithful friends, not self-aware parents, not a spectacular spouse nor cool smart kids, not a decent job, nothing. Believing otherwise will be the first step towards eventual depression & unnecessary suffering.
When the original Buddha asserted over 2500 years ago : « Life is suffering », he was right, but perhaps we can refine that further by saying, « Life can be suffering ». There are 2 forms of pain & suffering in the world since man became conscious several million years ago:
I. Necessary Pain & Suffering : hard work, old age, child-bearing, survival and setbacks, marriage issues, and so on.
II. Gratuitous Suffering : most bad decisions made in the world today have been clouded over by personal hang-ups and enmities, general mean-ness, cheap shots, off-the-cuff statements to children, child and spouse abuse.
Gratitude and Wiggling Fingers.
Here’s one of my stories that got me in touch with humility and gratitude. It’s about myself, in a bad mood as a young doctor (someone had “stolen” my parking space), being confronted by a quadriplegic (who was about my age – 28) I was caring for:
« How’s things this morning, Doc ? », his dark piercing eyes focused on me like lasers.
Forcing a smile, I mumbled something under my breath as I checked his vital signs.
Perceiving me in a funk, he queried to me,
« Doc, can you wiggle you fingers in front of you face ? »
« Sure, I can », as I demonstrated, while trying to smile.
« Well, Doc, whatever issues you are dealing with, I’m sure they’re important to you.
But, remember that you are equipped to deal with them and somehow you will.
Now, look at me, lying here, helpless, bedsores and all.
I can’t even wiggle my fingers.
Be grateful, Doc, be grateful ».
Gratitude as a Positive Health Force
Those words still echo in my mind, they have never lost their impact. That is exactly the feeling I get when someone negotiates with me to not do some daily physical activity. Why invest in the homeostasis of the body? Why upgrade it? Because we actually can!
Wiggle your fingers! Start there.
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** After 65 years, I realize that the key to happiness is satisfaction leading to gratitude. I have known many grateful people that have walked into my office, and they all claim to be happy. I have known many happy people, and they are all satisfied & grateful. I have known many unhappy people and they are all ungrateful to the point of being downright cynical . The many ungrateful patients, and none are truly happy, most cynical know-it-alls who are allowing life's lessons to pass them by, as it surely will. As best as I can tell from 65 years of travel and life, the association is 100% scientifically correlated.