Spiritual tracts often tell us we should be grateful for all that comes our way, both the good and the bad. We can readily appreciate why we should be grateful for the good, but what about the bad? The following stories explain why we should learn to be grateful, even when misfortune strikes.
There was a man who had the habit of being thankful for everything that came his way. Even when afflicted with misfortune he would say, “Also this is good.” He practiced this attitude so consistently that he won the nickname “Also this is good.” One day, Also This is Good went on a trip to a distant market. The first night of his journey he reached a small village, but they refused him lodging. So Also This is Good went to the nearby forest, tied his merchant laden donkey to a tree, made a fire, and went to sleep. In the middle of the night the wind began to blow fiercely and extinguished his fire. At the same time, a wolf began howling, which frightened his donkey. The donkey bit through the rope binding him to the tree and escaped. Now the poor man was left alone in a cold forest, without food or provisions for the journey. As the cold air blew around him he began to shiver. “Also this is good,” he said, and proceeded to sleep as best he could.
Later that night, he heard terrible noises and screams, and the sounds of horseman riding close by. He lay hidden in the brush not daring to move from his spot. When he woke in the morning, he learned that a band of robbers had come upon the village, killing most of the inhabitants and plundering the town. Now he knew for certain that what had occurred to him last night was for the good. Had the fire not gone out and the donkey not escaped he would have been spotted by the robbers and killed.
Lest you think this is just a moral fable that never occurs in real life, listen to these stories about 9/11. A group of religious attorneys worked for a law firm on the 92 floor of one of the Twin Towers. Every September they spent an extra hour, early in the morning, saying special prayers of forgiveness for the previous year. As a result of their extra worship service they were late for work every morning. This irritated the owner of the law firm, and finally he could take it no longer. He called them in on a Friday and told them they were all fired. “Don’t bother to come back,” he said. “Here are your severance checks, take all your belongings and get out.” The lawyers were heartbroken. Their festive holidays were coming and now they would have to tell their families that they were out of work. The next Tuesday the planes hit the World trade center. The law firm was above the level of the attack, and not a single person from the office survived. These lawyers, on the other hand, were alive and well, and the money from their severance pay meant they could enjoy the holiday season with their family, without having to look for work. Another group of workers was also saved that day. They travelled downtown to the world trade center every morning by bus. On that day, the bus would not start and they were going late for work when news came that the World Trade Center had been attacked.
Great Sun, author of the Viking book “Super Life Secret Codes,” has written extensively about the power of gratitude and appreciation. He noted that “Most of the time people tend to fight for things that are beneficial for their living, and it becomes an obstacle when (trying to) ….appreciate.” Yet, he points out, a grateful person will be able to benefit much more from his circumstances. Ingratitude, on the other hand, works to cut off the blessings we receive from life.
The flow of life rarely moves in just one direction. We see this truth every day when we walk up the stairs. The steps go up and then in, up and then in. Mountain roads go up and then down a bit, up and then down a bit. Life is the same way, our fortunes go up and down, only we can’t see behind the curtain to know its overall pattern. But it is worth remembering, as Great Sun pointed out in his book, that the Universe is benevolent. When we learn to weed out ingratitude then we begin to come and love the Universe and connect to it, and appreciate the blessings that are always streaming from its unlimited resources.