TAKES TOO LONG
Wednesday Nov. 5, 2014
Every contact, cynics could describe, is unwavering search for instant gratification.
But instant gratification takes too long!
What we miss. What the mass marketer and political spin-doctor world fails to grasp is that gratification and gratitude aren’t the same thing. Gratitude is appreciation for something and gratification is seeking feeling without underlying substance, without justification, value or worth. It feels cheap and unworthy.
Maybe they grasp it but feel it won’t lead to their bottom line.
Set instant gratification-think aside for a moment.
Don’t worry, you won’t forget what it feels like, but just set it aside for a while.
Life.
Starting each day with some acknowledgement of life’s value – our precious cargo being experience and occasional wisdom – I often look to words of others, quotations and sayings to explain a feeling, point of view or experience.
I like that activity of early morning, waking to a feeling of deep gratitude and appreciation for so many things.
Waking up, something I’ve had every day of my life, yet only recently I’ve been appreciating how important. How valuable. How irreplaceable.
I’ve written and trashed several starts this morning. Each time, returning to this single word on my page.
Life.
What else is there worth thinking about, writing about, figuring out?
This day of gratitude, like all others, is about attitude.
I’m sure I have one.
I know it, because I woke up with one …
If I have anything to offer anyone from these thoughts, from what I am learning, is that the gratitude is far more important than the attitude.
Each day, which would you rather wake up with?
Attitude?
Or, gratitude?
Mark Kolke
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: 2C / 36F, stars and clouds yielding to morning, calm, snow gone; Gusta sniffing and trotting along so cooperatively I suspect she’s looking forward to her holiday too. Seven more sleeps.
Reader feedback / comments always welcome:
Hanx Writer - Have you ever looked at this application? When you type it sounds just like an old typewriter. I thought, given how much you write, you might enjoy the sound an old typewriter makes when you strike the keys. Good writing my man, RT, Vancouver, BC
I may have quoted this quote before; "Change is inevitable; growth is optional." This has become my life preserver as I embrace change as the catalyst for growth. I crave change as it requires me to respond to it as if embracing an old friend. Most of my younger years were enamored with chaos because that seems to be where I grew up. Now, I embrace change more than chaos. One seems so much easier than the other. GW, Bon Wier, Tx.
