Article May 17, 1969 Issue

The Powerful Focus of Gratitude

ALINE N. THOMPSON

Sometimes, as we look at today's troubled and anxious world, we may feel there is little for which to be grateful. Often the troubles and anxieties may even be much closer home than in a world "out there." We may be confronted with physical problems, discouraging financial conditions, unsatisfying work, or unhappy human relationships to such a point that we ask, "What do I have to be grateful for?"

And yet, in these and other discordant circumstances we still must seek to be grateful, for the way of gratitude is the way to experience and maintain health, to have joy instead of gloom, to know abundance in place of lack, and to realize happy and helpful human activities. This is because gratitude is an acknowledgment that good exists and, at least in some way or in some measure, is actually present. This admission turns our thought away from the problem and toward good.

The action of gratitude in thought may be likened to the bringing of light into a room that has been wholly dark. In the light of even one candle the darkness of a room begins to give way. If fearsome shadows lurk in areas where the light does not reach, we know they will entirely disappear when the room is completely filled with light.

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