Over the past several years (and hundreds of newsletters), one of the topics that we have discussed the most frequently has been GRATITUDE. Today it is our turn to say thank you to you, our patients. We appreciate each and every one who took the time to vote for our office to be named Carroll's Best Chiropractic Office, for the fifth consecutive year!
Gratitude is a powerful force for good in our lives. A typical gratitude practice focuses on appreciating all of the positive things that have happened in our lives, which shifts our focus away from dwelling on the things that have gone wrong.
It is time for a little change to that perspective though! In an effort to expand on this topic of gratitude a bit, we need to tie it in with Stoicism. We often think about the practice of gratitude as simply taking time to appreciate the things, big or small, that make our lives better. However, consider these words from Marcus Aurelius
"Convince yourself that everything is the gift of the gods... that things are good and always will be."
Based on that quote alone, we can see that the ancient stoics were even grateful for the things that went wrong in their lives. The key word in that statement is EVERYTHING. We cannot simply be grateful for the things that go right, but need to take a moment and be grateful for the lessons we've learned and the opportunities that present themselves when things go "wrong." We ALL face adversity in our lives, it is inevitable, but rather than focus on the hardships it creates, Aurelius is suggesting that we focus on the lessons learned and the opportunities that the hardship has created for us.
There is another stoic statement that I comes up frequently, Amor Fati. This translates to "love of fate." No matter what happens we need to be able to view all that happens in our lives as good, or at least necessary. Amor Fati is a concept that dates back to ancient Rome, but was emphasized more recently by Frederich Nietzsche. (Remember him? We talked about him last week) While we may not be able to see the good that will come from the troubles that we face in the moment, we need to be able to trust that something good will come from it.
Another modern influencer, Jocko Willink, a retired Navy Seal, author and podcast host, has picked up where Nietzsche left off. He has abbreviated Amor Fati even further. He has a extremely simple response whenever he faces adversity, Willink simply says to himself - "Good!" That simple one word response expresses gratitude even when things look bleak. Gratitude for the opportunity to learn, to improve, to prepare for the next hurdle.
The practice of gratitude is often easy when life is good, but can be very difficult when life is challenging you!
To close this newsletter, I want to share a poem from Douglas Malloch:
"Good timber does not grow with ease: The stronger wind, the stronger trees; The further sky, the greater length; The more the storm, the more the strength. By sun and cold, by rain and snow, In trees and men good timbers grow."
This poem expresses that in order to grow to be the strong, resilient human that we are destined to be we will need to face some adversity! When we are able to overcome that adversity, then we will be better for it!
Again we we want to express our heart felt gratitude to all of you who took a moment of your time to cast a vote for our office and helped us win Carroll's Best Chiropractic Office for the 5th straight year!
