Finding Gratitude: Take a Deep Breath and Say Thanks

Lior asks, "In the Torah, it says Hashem saw the world as 'very good.' How does this align with the fact that most people struggle in life, work hard, and rarely enjoy? I believe in the world to come, but I don't see where we can see Hashem's goodness in this world."

Hello Lior, and thank you for your question.

Western culture often conditions us to think of the world as mostly suffering because it focuses on negativity even though it's a minority (every news broadcast knows that fear and shock attract viewers). This cynical outlook leads to increased depression, but this perspective is fundamentally untrue.

Most people are not suffering in the world.

Contrary to what we've been conditioned to believe, most of the world is actually good. The fact is, most people in the world are not starving or suffering from severe diseases. Most pass away in old age with plenty rather than in hunger. We have an enormous abundance of material resources, and if people were not greedy, there would not be a single poor person. We've received a world beautiful in its design and countless resources that provide us with endless joy.

Most of our moments are truly comfortable. Just look at any moment when you are not hungry or thirsty, not cold or hot, with a roof over your head and clothes on your back, in a state of wholeness and safety. Objectively, these are happy moments without any hardship.

In our imagination, we might be preoccupied with countless worries about past struggles or fears for the future, but these imaginations prevent us from seeing the truth of the present reality—this moment, and many others, is actually perfect.

Question: If we consider even a moment of pain or hunger as bad, by that logic, shouldn't we equally appreciate the millions of moments of peace that make up the majority of our lives?

But don't leave this perspective as a theory only; open your eyes and see the truth for yourself:

Pause for a moment, let go of previous thoughts, leave the quests and requests aside, simply fill your lungs with air and take a deep breath. Let your eyes observe like an innocent child the place where you stand. Notice where your body is placed and feel connected to the reality you live in at this moment.

Focus on your breathing, on the life unfolding before your eyes, and recognize that in this specific moment there is nothing you can truly call "bad." The truth is that you are alive now, and more likely than not, there is nothing painful at this moment—no severe hunger, no oppressive cold, and no fear of danger...

In this moment, you are rich, and everything is perfect without flaw. Whatever has happened in the past or will occur in the future, this moment offers you pure delight, a serenity as close to paradise as it gets!

If you allow yourself to savor the moment, you'll discover its beauty, and then you'll find many such moments in every single day—it's just that you haven't been noticing them.

Make this a daily exercise—pause once each day in the flow of life, observe your present situation for a few moments, and thank Hashem for all the good in your life. If you practice this often enough, you'll realize that most of your existence is indeed very calm and peaceful, most of your life is good and comfortable, and all the different concerns and aspirations do not reflect most of your comfortable time in reality. Even while you're worrying or fearing, you are still living on a very comfortable vessel of luxury and peace.

Do this, and your life will have a bright ray of light, and your heart will fill with gratitude to the Creator of the World for His countless gifts. In this way, you'll discover that the world is mostly good, and most of the time, life is very good and comfortable.

An old tale tells of a woodsman who all day complained and lamented his difficult life, crying out, "When will the angel of death come?" One day, the angel of death appeared to him: "Did you call me?" he asked.

The frightened woodsman was terrified for his life: "Yes, true, I called you because I wanted you to help me lift the wood," he lied...

It is a fact that every healthy-minded person, if unfortunately asked to return his soul before his time, would cry and plead immediately to Hashem for one more moment of life.

On the face of things, it seems only those who have faced great danger have managed to break free from habit, suddenly appreciate the gift of their lives, and be thankful for the small things.

However, one doesn't have to wait for the end or face the fear of losing gifts to learn to appreciate life. With practice in observation, we too can be thankful for the gift of life every day and cherish the beautiful time we've been given.

* * *

"For one of a thousand thousand thousand and a myriad myriad myriad..."

In the previous article, we learned a practice of observation.

When we breathe deeply and look at our immediate surroundings, we realize that most of our life is actually very comfortable and peaceful; the "bad" resides mainly in our imagination, in thoughts, and only very little in the objective reality of our lives. Since a person resides where his thoughts do, anyone who deceives himself into believing his life is bad will not notice all the good in it. Therefore, it's important to occasionally halt the flow of life, the wave of thoughts, and recognize the good reality of our lives.

After this experiential exercise, let's explore the many technological gifts Hashem gives us, allowing us to operate in the world.

Let's start with something that functions in the head of each of us—the most complex machine in the universe—the human brain, with over 100 billion neurons coordinating, just so we can think and express our thoughts at this moment!

The human body offers countless amazing technological gifts, and no one would want to give up even one of them. For instance, who among us would agree to give up their sense of sight for a million dollars (or even just the color vision of reality), their sense of hearing, taste, touch, both hands, or both legs?

Even someone who tries to bind their thumbs for just one day will quickly discover how essential they are; a person wearing gloves will find out how much they miss their nails during the day. Life would be annoying without them, but who among us ever thought to be thankful for a thumb or a nail?

Did you know that fingerprints are meant to enhance the tactile sensation? With nylon gloves, you don't feel the subtle details in touch. Everything Hashem made was done with wisdom and love.

This truth must be recognized: each of us has received thousands of gifts for free from Hashem, each worth millions. Every finger is a marvel in its sophistication, and to replicate it artificially requires the best scientists and logistic experts who still don't come close to the original...

How many of us know to appreciate all these gifts before we ask for more?

A spoiled child tends to complain because he does not appreciate all the gifts and love his parents lavish upon him. But if we look with a fair eye upon the reality of a person, we find that he lives more abundantly than any animal in the world, much more than he needs to survive, all due to the countless free goodnesses Hashem pours on him with love.

The Creator, blessed be He, was not obligated to create all the fruit trees in the world, nor all the types of materials in the earth, nor the variety of animals in nature. A person could have survived with one eye and one ear, without seeing the colorful reality. Yet, the Creator has given us far beyond to enjoy the creation He made. The world is indeed "very good," revealing most of the Creator's love.

We must learn to see all the good in life and express gratitude for all the free gifts and kindness received from our Creator. Maimonides explains this in his golden words (Guide for the Perplexed, Part Three, Chapter 12):

"Often, the multitude imagines that the evils in the world are more numerous than the good things... Most of the evils that come upon people are due to themselves, I mean due to people who are lacking... because of evils we do to ourselves by our own choice, we suffer, and we attribute it to Hashem... Solomon explained this and said: 'The foolishness of man twists his way, and his heart argues against Hashem' (Proverbs 19:3)... But the excellent wise understand the wisdom of this existence and comprehend it... All the struggle in this that you see, and the pain we suffer because of it, are because of the pursuit of luxuries, to ask for what's not necessary; then, they don't even find what is necessary... Note the state of affairs in the reality... the less essential something is, the less it is available, and it is often very dear; whereas what is necessary, for instance air, water, and food, is also abundant and affordable. Air is most necessary... and it is widely available and free for all... Water is more necessary than food... and in every city, there is more and cheaper water than food. So it is with food: what's more essential is more available and cheaper in that place than what is not essential. This reflects Hashem's kindness and goodness toward His creation."

We must remember and remind our children that the world is fundamentally and mostly good, and people only fool themselves into thinking the world is bad.

Most people do not know how to appreciate the many good things in their lives; they cannot correctly value the worth of sight, hearing, walking, even the eyelashes on their eyelids or the eyebrows meant to keep sweat from entering their eyes. Indeed, there is much to be thankful for and much evidence of Hashem's kindness in our reality.

Hashem's greatest love was given to us through the gift of His Torah, the way of the commandments, through which we learn to resemble the Creator and merit eternal closeness in paradise, teaching us how to be good and righteous people: "What is good and what does Hashem require of you, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your G-d" (Micah 6:8).

Hashem breathed a soul into us in His image, out of His love for us, to benefit us in our afterlife. There is no higher being in the entire universe than the existence of the soul in man: "Hashem created man in His image, in the image of Hashem He created him" (Genesis 1:27). If all the beauty and wonder of this world are just preparations and corrections for the true life of the world to come, imagine how much beauty and wonder await in the afterlife, which is the place of true happiness!

In the next article, we will address the question of suffering and what we can learn from it, with Hashem's help.