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Writer's pictureMary Maciel Pearson

An attitude of gratitude

Updated: Mar 4, 2021


“Privilege is invisible to those who have it.”


~Michael Kimmel


This blog was originally posted on Thanksgiving in 2016.


It’s Thanksgiving Monday.  Surrounded by family and friends, I am feeling privileged and extremely grateful. 


Just ten years ago I had a lot of grievances.  We'd left a home and community we loved and I felt hard done by. I failed to take responsibility for what had manifested. And, I failed to embrace my very thoughtful new neighbours, who went out of their way to make us feel welcome.


As a non-visible minority, from a working class immigrant family, having lived and worked among the most affluent in Canada, I had also become increasingly disillusioned by the growing gap between the “haves” and the “have nots”.  "Who am I to have more?" became my ruminating thought.  I neglected to see that this thought had the potential to lead to my own demise - to my inability to make a difference.

But today I am grateful and hopeful. Isolating myself a little bit, reducing my busy-ness, I was able to address some of my self-limiting thoughts and beliefs.    

I am sincerely appreciative for the brilliant minds whose work I was easily able to access, mostly from the comfort of my own home.

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

    ~old Theosophical statement   

Keeping a daily gratitude journal (The Five Minute Journal) helped pave the way.  

Thanks to the internet I was exposed to Brian Johnson who continues to inspire me with his Philosopher’s Notes, providing '5 big ideas' for each of countless books he reviews, many that I have had the privilege to read.


Special thanks to Harville Hendrix PhD, whose book "Getting the Love You Want" taught me that from a young age we develop an image of the partner who will complete us.  This person will have a combination of the positive and negative traits of the most influential care givers we had in our formative years.  The relationship developed will eventually mirror back to us unresolved emotional issues. It will provide some challenge that presents an opportunity for our growth and transformation.  If we bail on this relationship before we have learned that life lesson, we will continue to attract those who will trigger the same pain; the same underlying cry for help. 

Thank you to Dr. Kelly Brogan as well, author of  A Mind of Your Own, a book I highly recommend to anyone afflicted with subpar mental health.  I have linked to my review of the book published by Vitality magazine.


Thank you to Jill, my sister-in-law, for exposing me to sociologist Michael Kimmel.  His quote at the top of this post resonated with me.

Relishing more in the moment with awareness, fortunately I have now developed a mindset of abundance.  

Over time I have increasingly  ‘become the change I want to see in the world’ (Mahatma Gandhi).  

Today I have more to give, and with an attitude of gratitude I am happier than I have ever been.  


Heartfelt thanks to my husband, children and extended family for their love, respect and support.



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