Are you thankful, satisfied? Gratitude is the way to go

In a 2017 survey conducted by Pew Research, 4,492 adult Americans were asked to rate their personal lives on a scale of zero to 10 before providing open-ended responses.

On average, life satisfaction rated a 6.7 on a 0-to-10 scale with a majority choosing a value between five and eight. A follow-up question asked what made their lives meaningful or kept them going.

Respondents mentioned many different topics, with family emerging as the most common source of meaning. But of the 30 topics that were studied, only four were universally associated with higher levels of life satisfaction — a person’s good health, romantic partner or spouse, friends, and career.

Regardless of age, income, religion, and other demographic factors, persons who mentioned these parts of their lives as meaningful were more likely to rate their lives as satisfying than those who did not.

Participants were also given an opportunity to write, in their own words, about the things that give them a sense of meaning and satisfaction with their lives.

Gratitude was a common theme among those who mentioned their romantic partners or spouse. Interesting.

A more recent study in February 2021 showed that people are less satisfied with their life. Surprising?

Survey questions included: What about your life do you currently find meaningful, fulfilling or satisfying? What keeps you going and why?

Satisfaction has for sure shifted over the past four years. I didn’t need to study a survey to find that out.

I refrain from mentioning anything about politics. But I must praise the news media, as they do a marvelous job swaying everyone into a frenzy.

I don’t turn the television on very often, but when I do, whew. Reporters, and the world in general, do well stressing the bad, ugly and everything in between.

I don’t mean to be a negative Nancy. But it seems to me that many of us are easily irritated or annoyed, prone to complaining or just in a bad mood — grumpy or ill-tempered, prone to snapping or being short.

Certainly many have been, or are going through, tumultuous times. I pray things get better for you and for our world soon, streets of gold.

Amidst the chaos, we can be proactive in helping ourselves to create unspeakable joy in and on our hearts and in the lives of others.

Sometimes I think my mom should have named me Charlie. I get bent out of shape from time to time, whine, complain, lose focus.

In my opinion and observance, society is doing a great job overdoing it on the crankiness and crabbiness. It is in our human nature. No excuse.

If the shoe fits, read on. If it doesn’t, read on.

Perhaps all this world needs is a little love, a refresher course in arithmetic and a prophylactic prescription of gratitude.

How often I fail to give thanks and yet God continues to pour out his gracious blessings on me. I am grateful for his unconditional love, his forgiveness. Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine.

In just a few weeks, all of us will most likely gather at the table to share a meal with family. Just as the name suggests, Thanksgiving is all about giving thanks.

On the other hand, gratitude is a response to whatever it is that causes one to give thanks.

I read that when a person doesn’t have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. You have likely heard the aphorism “have an attitude of gratitude.”

In 2016, a billboard that sits atop a building in the Bronx of NYC created a bit of a stir. Motorists noticed the misspelling of the word gratitude and were quite appalled. Many expressed their annoyance that the person in charge of the billboard would allow such a mistake.

There are way bigger issues deserving of dismay. Good grief.

When the sign was pointed out to Greena Gallo of Eltingville, her response was, “Mistakes happen.”

“I see signs all the time with misspellings,” said Kevin Thompson of Stapleton.

At least those two were forgiving.

In an interview, the artist said, “Gratitude is not just something you say when you get what you want. I like the idea of putting it out there, of gratitude as an action. A combination of attitude and gratitude.”

Thanksgiving and gratitude do not come naturally; they have to be cultivated. Perhaps taking inventory would be the beginning of helping remedy a global pandemic.

Count your blessings. Name them one by one. Count your many blessings. See what God has done.

Artist Peter Tunney was responsible for the billboard sign, and he took great pleasure in stating the fact that the misspelling was not a mistake.

The billboard in Tompkinsville reads: “GRATTITUDE.”

Gratitude is attitude on steroids.

Truly a work of art!

I need to work harder on cultivating a mindset of gratitude. I would rather be a Sally.