I pulled this clip from my interview with Daniel Midson-Short because I initially intended to include it in the blog I posted yesterday about the mutinous nature of gratitude but, I as listen to this conversation it feels so poignant that I think it deserves space enough to breathe on its own.
Everywhere we look we are told that who we are, what we have, and what we do is not enough. We are told that we need more, we need be more, we need to do more. And all too often these sentiments are expressed most ardently within ourselves to ourselves.
Usually, the loudest voice in the room telling me that I’m not enough is my own. As a result, we become afflicted by the disease of what Daniel Midson-Short calls “comparison-itis”.
In fact, not long ago I sent out a tweet admitting that the trap of “comparison” is one that I fall into often, actually “often” may be an understatement.
These unhealthy comparisons not only render us unappreciative of our living particularities, they also leave us feeling ungrateful.
As a result we overlook our own anomalous nature. We take our lives, and almost everything within them, for granted but, gratitude is a protest against the autocracy of comparison. Instead, it is a celebration of the “overlooked”, a commemoration of the “taken for granted”.
All the metrics and measurements, though helpful at times, are imaginary and ultimately inconsequential.
“Moving the needle” simply means that we’re making the effort to make it work.
Gratitude says that wherever our feet land as we walk upon our path is a landmark. Every move we make within the process is a milestone.