Complex Numbers

Transcendental

Maybe you thought you could stop thinking about "gratitude" because Thanksgiving is over.

Sunday Firesides: Graduate From the Kindergarten Class of Gratitude  

I'm no stranger to knocking out strings of words on a given topic in a few minutes. Hell, I do it every night. This reads like that. Only, presumably, these authors are getting paid, and I'm not.

Is there anything more innocuous than gratitude?

Puppies, maybe?

It’s one of the few values endorsed by solemn religious leaders and vapid lifestyle gurus alike.

I'm going to start using the phrase "weaponized adjectives" to describe this sort of blatant editorializing.

Unlike other virtues, which require going against instinct (e.g., you feel afraid, but decide to act with courage anyway), with gratitude, you simply lean into it; something good happens, you feel good, and you need only recognize that warm and fuzzy sensation.

No, if something good happens, I wait for the other shoe to drop.

Yet there’s more to gratitude than commonly countenanced — higher and harder shades of it to reach for beyond its elementary-level start.

“Advanced” gratitude retains delight in someone’s admirable qualities and small acts of service . . . even after the novel and noticeable becomes the ordinary and expected.

If you say so.

If elementary gratitude is instinctual; advanced gratitude is effortful. Whereas one is merely felt, the other is expressed.

Some people say that we only appreciate the things that we have to work for. I happen to disagree. I appreciate more the things that are handed to me, because they're so hard to replace.

If, in the kindergarten class of gratitude, the warm fuzzies of thankfulness are for the heart-lightening benefit of the individual alone, in post-graduate gratitude, they are used as a spur towards being better, doing better, giving back.

And that's fine, but it doesn't go far enough.

The next level, as far as I'm concerned at least, is being grateful not just for the good things that happen, but for the shitty things.

I'll call this "transcendent" gratitude, so I can weaponize that adjective, and because that's the only thing I can think of beyond "advanced" in the limited time I have to do this entry.

Say a tree falls on your house. That sucks, right? Especially if you're in it at the time. But if you survive, transcendent gratitude is being thankful for the opportunity to step outside your comfort zone, learn new things, figure out how to make an insurance claim, navigate the emergency room for the concussion it gave you, and how to get someone to fix it as quickly as possible -- all valuable life experiences.

Or you loan a friend $5000. She doesn't pay it back. You should be grateful for that life lesson: don't lend money to friends -- or pick better friends -- or never trust her again. Or, in my case, all three.

Or your car breaks down on US 50 in Nevada, with no cell service, 110F+ temperatures, and no help within 200 miles. Be grateful for the opportunity to practice all the skills you've prepared for just such an occasion.

Now. I'm not saying I practice transcendental gratitude, at least not on a regular basis. Frankly, I'd rather give up and bitch about it. But bad shit happens, inevitably, and you can either bitch about it and give up, or be grateful for the learning experience.

And see? I can knock out a monologue about gratitude in less than a half hour, too.