Realizing we’re indebted cuts us down to size; and then we can grow
Everyone today knows: Cultivate an attitude of gratitude and you’ll be a happier individual. So go ahead and take the dare. Keep a list, add to it each day, and see how much you have. It shifts our attention off of what’s missing and allows what we already have to come into focus and fill us up.
Rav Dessler explains that happiness comes from a feeling of fullness. Kosi revayah, as my cup runneth over with what I have, it overflows onto others. We have a simchah, and we want others to join us celebrating it. It’s contagious.
And to follow that reasoning still further; if what the Creator of the World has given me until this point hasn’t made me happy as of yet, then why should He continue to give me more? All I’ve shown Him is that no matter what He’s given me so far, I still haven’t been filled. My cup has a hole and whatever gets poured in leaks out.
In the story of our lives, the twists and turns are unpredictable. While I try to be grateful for everything, even the challenges, I personally never imagined how much my family and I would need to reach out to others when my mother was diagnosed with a devastating illness.
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