Gratitude is a challenging word. It should be easy but it never feels like it. As if when you’re in the now, there are so many things that might not be going the way you want them to and that clouds our ability to feel genuine when expressing it.
It is far easier in retrospect to say “That was a good time” or “that was a great person”, even when we struggled finding the words at the time when we were around either of them.
I often wonder if my gratitude is enough, towards the people in my life who are alive today and for the sake of my ability to enjoy the present moment. As busy or hard as things might be.
Perhaps the underrated key to gratitude has always been about finding the beauty in the chaos. To squint our eyes and look patiently for the hidden gems and the glimpses of humanity within the strange composition, more complex and riveting due to its flaws, rather than waiting for a picture perfect moment to occur.
After all, if we must count our blessings, even during a difficult day, we can remind ourselves that we’re breathing, that we’ve experienced joy as easy as the feeling of warmth under the sun in a cold day, laughed at animals being unknowingly silly, and we’ve been loved.
— Mariana Montes de Oca
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