#AtoZChallenge- Loving Life

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade” is never exactly as easier as it sounds. Most adages are easy said than done and Raghav was in no mood to either listen or understand such stereotypical sayings. After all his life was a mess! Another victim of Quarter Life Crisis and it couldn’t get worse for Raghav. He was jobless, his girlfriend ditched him and he was still dependent on his parents, which was considered a sin by most of his distant relatives. Though his parents had absolutely no issues with their son, they did feel awkward when people questioned about his employment or ambition in life. His girl friend whom he considered to be his pillar of support, left him when he needed her the most. The job market wasn’t great enough either, thus making it harder for him to get employed. In a nutshell, nothing was going right and everything was against his desire, Raghav kept reminding himself.

He spent days watching television and nights wondering why his life was messed up. Each glance at his social media feed, reminded him of how big of a loser he was. His depressed state only got worsened by comparing his jobless, life less life with successful and vibrant lives of his peers. He cursed his state and never stopped complaining about the same. Dejected by his plight, his friends made every effort to get his mind off things but in vain. In an attempt to shift Raghav’s outlook, one of his friends suggested the practice of gratitude.

“I read an article on gratitude today. Sounded very powerful and promising. I think you should try”, his friend suggested.

“You know how much I hate you guys preaching, don’t get me started again!”, Raghav backfired.

“Nobody wants to bore you with preaching. You know how much I hate telling you stuff, yet, it wasn’t just another moral teaching, it always existed. You just might be unaware. Gratitude can change this life of yours. You definitely need to know how blessed you are! Please give it try”, his friend pleaded and left Raghav’s place.

During his time of overthinking nights, Raghav could not get his friend’s gratitude words out from his head. He knows how his friend never discussed anything philosophical, but his mention of the very same, did not let him take his words for granted. He wondered, but he couldn’t think of a single thing in his life that he was grateful for.

The next day, Raghav received an email with the article on gratitude from his friend. Just like his friend mentioned, it sounded very profound yet truthfully real. So real that Raghav who hated anything that sounded like worthless proverbs, actually started developing faith in them. He tried to incorporate gratitude into his life after he came across some real examples of how it changed people’s lives around the world. Raghav immersed himself in the subject of gratitude. He spent hours online exploring its greatness and purchased books on the same. His lazy endless days no longer existed as Raghav kept himself busy learning, reading and practicing gratitude.

Within days, Raghav started writing a gratitude journal as suggested by many sources. He made an effort to consciously think and analyze his life from a purposefully positive point of view. Though hard in the beginning, Raghav’s list of things to be thankful for in his life kept increasing. With this practice, he realized how blessed and fortunate his life was each day. He became mindfully thankful for his birth, his body, his supportive parents and friends, his experiences, his health and the list was endless. He realized there was no dearth of counting your blessings no matter how miserable you assumed your life to be! That’s the beauty of gratitude! It has the ability to make anybody in any state feel content and joyful for their very life.

Raghav noticed a huge transformation in himself. He was unusually cheerful and content, in spite of no change in his life. He was still jobless and single, but not depressed. He kept himself busy doing things he loved. Whenever he felt low, he gave a quick glance at his gratitude journal, which instantly shifted his emotions. Within few weeks, Raghav received an email for an interview at a major firm. After months of applying for countless number of jobs and endless waiting, Raghav finally received a call for an interview. As a part of his gratitude ritual, he was extremely thankful and happy for having received a call from a huge company. He was positive he would clear the interview and concentrated on preparing for the D- Day.

Two months passed and Raghav is working in the very same building he was interviewed! He is having the time of his life and never fails to remind himself of how grateful he is for everything he has in his life. He is pretty confident that he can never be depressed or unhappy for long, now that he knows the ‘magic’ of life!

Law of Attraction Takeaway– Gratitude and Law of Attraction are intertwined. The more you are grateful for what you have, the more you will attract things to be grateful for!