Count your blessings

The day just started and the power went off. The UPS battery was discharged and the result was chaos, with the family members in queue for the bath, and the housewife just about to switch on the mixie for the spicy chutney.

Varied expletives sprang from each one, except the baby who was nonchalantly sucking his toe holding it with its two tiny hands. The world seemed to have come to a standstill for the rest.

This is a common enough scenario where bedlam reigns when humdrum utilities fail us. But when they do provide, which is the ordinary situation, does anyone feel grateful that they are blessed with power or water or sanitation?

Gratitude is recognised as one of the most positive emotions, which warms the heart and brightens up the mind of both the donor and receiver, but also the most difficult to elicit from a human, either towards fellow humans or towards favourable circumstances, as both are taken for granted.

Words of sympathy and deeds of kindness received are readily forgotten, hidden under layers of unsavoury memories created by recent situations.

The same people may be involved but the recency effect dominates and past kind deeds are ruthlessly forgotten. Is it any wonder that the Bard equalled ingratitude to a serpent's tooth?

One needs to be grateful for the new day on waking up. Instead, one tends to crib about the body ache from an uncomfortable cot or tiredness from intermittent sleep. The very fact that one has woken up to a new day is a case for feeling grateful to the elements, apart from one's health.

Immediate vocal expression of gratitude, and harbouring gratitude in retrospect are both important. I remember my near and dear who are there for me and thank them mentally now and then.

I remember my cousin Vijay Mohan who despite being a "married bachelor" in Bristol was an amiable host. I warmly remember the couple Yogi and Chaitra, my daughter's friends, settled in Boston, who gladly hosted us a few years ago.

I was a stranger to Chaitra but despite her third trimester she prepared delectable dishes and served us with utmost joy. I feel grateful to my pal Pushpa who hosted me at short notice in the temple town of Udupi when I had no one else to depend upon.

The editors who publish my articles are remembered gratefully by me even as I remain thankful to a host of people who have been there for me in one way or the other. I feel blessed when I watch playful infants and toddlers, including my two adorable grandsons.

I deem it a blessing to watch lovely hued flowers along the swaying branches, naughty kittens, and hard-working birds who bring me joy with their spontaneity, transparency and innocence. So think, and start counting your blessings too!

A positive emotion like gratitude will have a telling effect on one's metabolic process and will work towards a healthy body and a pleasant disposition.

As is attributed to the Buddha, "Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we did not learn a lot today, at least we learnt a little, and if we did not learn a little, at least we did not get sick, and if we got sick, at least we did not die, so, let us all be thankful."