I Have A Superpower!

Over the years that I’ve been wandering around in this limited form of a human body, I have often been in groups where inevitably someone will ask “If you could have any superpower you want, what would it be?” and everyone tries to out-clever everyone else with their outlandish and often revealing answers.

Some want to fly, some want to time-travel. I personally wish I could sing any and all harmony parts simultaneously to any melody. That would be way cool. Technology has come a long way in assisting with that.

But this power is a bit different. At first glance it seems common place. It seems kinda boring and normal. But let me quickly reassure you there is nothing normal or boring about this superpower. It has changed my life.

It daily shifts my perspective from fear and anxiety to trust and rest. It takes the furrow from my brow and gives a smile to my face. It allows me to put everything aside and focus on one thing at a time and thus do a better job at whatever it is I am doing.

This superpower is….drumroll please…..GRATITUDE!

It’s such a tiny thing it seems. And everyone knows about it. I hear it all the time. I open the door for someone and they say “thank you”. Its a word that we use and yet most of us have NO idea the POWER of it. Being genuinely thankful is the difference between growing old and bitter or aging with grace and happiness. It is the difference between a good day and a bad one. The difference between anxiety and trust. And quite literally is the difference between life and death.

Don’t believe me? That’s ok. Life is grand enough for us each to find our own superpower that works for us and that’s ok. It’s all a part of the Mother Love anyway and eventually we all find our way back to her. But if you’re up for a little life-changing challenge, read on.

Here’s something you can try. I challenge you for the next 21 days, to set the timer for 5 minutes in the morning and simply begin to write down all the things in your life that you are grateful for.

At first its easy. “I am thankful for a job, a place to live, someone to love, kids,” etc etc etc, that can get a bit boring I admit. BUT here is the real challenge…

Be thankful for that thing or things in your life that you feel like you just can’t be thankful for.

“I am thankful for this headache.”

“I am thankful for my unpaid bills”

“I am thankful for that person or persons in my life that are making my every day hellish!”

“I am thankful for my boss.”

You see what I’m doing here? Yeah it’s a bit nuts. It’s a bit crazy. But it’s effective as hell. You feel badly toward someone for something you imagine that they’ve done to you? Be thankful for that person and also be thankful for what they did.

It’s not easy, at all. Sometimes I wrestle with something for days before I can genuinely say “thank you” for it.

Here’s the magic…

The moment you can say and FEEL in your heart, some gratitude for that irritation or fear or worry in your life, it begins to shift. You will feel the shift immediately. That’s the hardest part, once you’re past that just keep feeling that gratitude and in hardly any time at all your resistance and fear will begin to crumble. In it’s place will be gratitude. There is no better way to live than to simply be thankful for every, and I mean EVERY thing in your life!

Originally published at http://benjiesblog.org on February 12, 2020.