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To be Grateful is to be Happy

 Photo: Patience is not sitting and waiting, it is foreseeing. It is looking at the thorn and seeing the rose, looking at the night and seeing the day. Lovers are patient and know that the moon needs time to become full.</p> </p> <p>~ Shams Tabrizi image: Igor Zgrablic” src=”https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t1.0-9/s403x403/1939693_10152320211333185_404646108_n.jpg” width=”378″ height=”243″ /></p> <p>One of the wonderful features of life is the fact that hardship tends to lead to useful insight. One need not look too deeply into one’s own experience to appreciate the validity of this point. In fact this point seems to be so manifestly true that it is a wonder that we attempt to avoid hardship. There is no denying the fact that we do attempt to avoid hardship and the reason for this is understandable; hardship is distinctly unpleasant! The unpleasant nature of hardship does however teach us one very important lesson. This lesson is contained at the end of any and all hardship and it is simply this; to be grateful is to be happy!</p> <p>This lesson was made manifest to me after an few days of acute discomfort. I am currently busy with my MA in philosophy by coursework and research at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). Wits gives MA students one year to complete both the coursework and research elements of the program. I completed the coursework part of my MA with distinction and was only left with the research. The research element I found challenging. Alongside other commitments, I attempted to produce an excellent piece of work (in a very short space of time) that would ensure that I graduate with a distinction and earn the respect of the department.</p> <p>One week before the rigid deadline I submitted a final draft to my supervisor hoping that my piece of work was in a sufficient state of repair that a few minor amendments would have me achieving my goal. Unfortunately however when I received my draft back from my supervisor it was blatantly apparent that I was well short of the mark. I should have realized that this was the case but I managed to convince myself that I was on the right track. The revelation that I wasn’t hit me like a shotgun blast. Whilst reading through my supervisors comments I began to despair. I could see no way of rectifying the problems in time for the deadline. I had the experience of heading inexorably towards disaster without possible recourse. I felt like I was stuck in a tunnel leading to oblivion with no escape hatches.</p> <p>My reaction was severe and probably not warranted by the circumstances. As it turned out there was an escape hatch. I had the option of paying for an extension, which is what I ended up doing. Upon deciding to take the extension I felt an immense relief. A feeling of absolute joy accompanied the resolution of my “crisis”.</p> <p>The joy I felt was nothing other than the pleasure of no longer being distressed. It is the kind of joy one feels when an excruciating headache finally abates. Or the joy one feels at finally dropping a heavy physical burden that one has been carrying for too long.</p> <p>What is interesting about this experience, and any experience like it, is that it actually teaches us about how pleasant our existence is. The acute distress of my thesis experience revealed to me how truly pleasant life is without the distress. Ordinarily the pleasantness of being alive is lost on me; on most of us for that matter!</p> <p>The reason for this is that we are too busy trying to achieve things that we fail to be grateful for being alive. Our general lack of gratitude impedes us from appreciating the pleasantness of life. We are not able to appreciate the pleasantness of being alive because we are caught up in achieving things. Instances of acute distress are wonderful because they deliver us into a position to be grateful; we are grateful for no longer being distressed. This gratitude makes life pleasant because life is appreciated.</p> <p><a id=

This teaches us about the value of gratitude. Gratitude is what enables us to appreciate. To appreciate life is to be happy. So if we are grateful we are happy because we are appreciative. Indeed we should be grateful for hardship because it helps snap us out of our complacency and makes us grateful.

I must acknowledge that getting caught up in achieving things is practically necessary. We all should endeavour to be productive members of society. But, we should keep this lesson in the back of our minds. Take a moment during your day to stop and appreciate what stands before you. Appreciate the steady and benign movement of the weather. Look at a bird flying high above and appreciate its splendour. Look at a beautiful girl and appreciate her beauty; wonder at the magnificence of beauty itself. Look at the faces of people around you and wonder at the complexities and intricacies of their lives. Close your eyes and wonder at your own consciousness…. To do this is to cultivate gratitude within oneself and hence happiness….

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Assad Schuitema

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