The Invitation of the Grateful Life: Courage to Imagine and Act

All that is possible in life is easily taken for granted, which we have seen throughout the first quarter of the 21st Century. Here we are, at a time when technology could be connecting us and mitigating the fear of those different from us because we are now hyper-exposed to the beautiful diversity within all life. But instead of making positive shifts that progress us forward and in service of life’s diversity, we are returning to our old ways — those perspectives and stances that make us smaller rather than larger, simple rather than complex. 

When we are clear in our heart, mind, and spirit that life is a gift then we look at every situation with an inquisitive gaze and wonder: what is possible here?

The importance of living gratefully is that it helps us distinguish what is possible from the impossible. What is possible can take place and come into being whereas what is impossible cannot. When we are clear in our heart, mind, and spirit that life is a gift then we look at every situation with an inquisitive gaze and wonder: what is possible here? It may be meaningful, it may be perspective enhancing, and it may just be brutally hard. Whatever we encounter, we don’t have to fear it because we trust that, even when we are confronted with an indistinguishable opportunity, an opportunity will reveal itself eventually. This is what makes a grateful person a person of possibility. And people of possibility are desperately needed now more than ever. 

The Philosopher William M. Paris says, “When the category of possibility is in crisis, the intelligibility of collective action and cooperative life will be imperiled.” He goes on to say, “The erosion of the foundations for social possibility is an attack on the very concept of freedom.” There are people among us who can’t see the way forward for themselves or for any of us because they are impaired by the bleakness — they are overwhelmed by fear and our present situation. 

Our responsibility as grateful practitioners goes beyond appreciation… To stop there would be to stop short of the grateful life.

Possibility is in crisis because there is a lack of meaningful, social imagination at this moment in the human story. Just when we should be making enormous strides towards peace, unity, and collective transformation with thanks to all of the advances made in the post-industrial era, we are forgoing such opportunities and the many gifts given to us. This is precisely why our responsibility as grateful practitioners goes beyond appreciation and recognizing these gifts. To stop there would be to stop short of the grateful life.

We cannot stop at our awareness alone, not once we’ve been awakened to life and its gifts, because there are too many among us that are sleepwalking through life. There are too many entrapped in the cycle of fear who can’t find their way out. And so, with possibility in crisis — with our need to cooperate and sustain our interdependent web of existence — we are invited, compelled, and perhaps even burdened to do the courageous and often hard task of imagining what is possible and then working towards it through action. 

We cannot awaken to the gift of life only to then return to the shadows of apathy.

The grateful life leaves no room for complacency because saying thank you is not its full actualization. We cannot awaken to the gift of life only to then return to the shadows of apathy. In our wakefulness, we begin to see what others cannot yet perceive. For us and for them, we must seek a life-giving pathway into the next moment so that we neither go backwards nor leave anyone behind. Wherever we go we all go together. 

Those awakened to the gift of life must lead all of us towards what is good and life-giving so that those who remain asleep in their egos, selfishness, and individualist pursuits might follow and come alive to the possibilities that exist in our shared, beautiful lives.

Photo by Aziz Acharki

Joe Primo, Grateful Living

Joe Primo is the CEO of Grateful Living. He is a passionate speaker and community-builder whose accomplishments made him a leading voice on resilience and adversity. Gratefulness for life, he believes, is foundational to discovering meaning and the only response that is big enough and appropriate for the plot twists, delights, surprises, and devastation we encounter along the way. A student of our founder since his studies at Yale Divinity School, Joe is committed to advancing our global movement and making the transformational practice of grateful living both accessible to all and integral to communities and places of belonging. His TED talk, “Grief is Good,” reframed the grief paradigm as a responsive resource. He is the author of “What Do We Tell the Children? Talking to Kids About Death and Dying” and numerous articles.

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