Circumstances for learning this attention exercise
Stuck comparing your life to other people’s lives
Fixated on what’s beyond your control
Preoccupied with worst-case scenarios
Trying to feel something I don’t feel never works.
But noticing how I feel is a surprisingly satisfying habit with endless practical applications. It’s especially useful when cultivating desirable traits like gratitude or empathy.
Cultivation takes time. Like gardening, it's about attending to the conditions that allow aspects of our humanity to blossom in their own time.
Attending to the elements within our control helps to soften our expectations. This is undoubtedly true for feeling grateful.
Simmering in gratitude can sometimes be delicious, but it’s also expected to spot unpleasant flavors spicing up your emotional stew. Spicy feelings aren't evidence that you’re not grateful. They reveal the complexity and variability of essential aspects of our humanity.
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