# Chapter 162

Gratefulness is a crucial part of living well. The problem is that gratefulness is not natural to Western Culture, I can’t speak for other cultures. You have to cultivate gratefulness, practice it like an olympic sport and roll it around like play dough in your hands. Gratefulness is visceral and intellectual at the same time. It does not come from an abundance, but rather from a lack of lack. And that requires some perspective. The more you have traveled outside of your zip code, the easier perspective is to have and utilize. If you travel enough you come to realize that you are entitled to nothing and that you need very little. Gratefulness can be a short trip from this point.

Or not. I know many ex pats who have seen and smelled poverty in ways the average American cannot imagine and yet they remain impervious and arrogant and privileged in really unhelpful and unhealthy ways that prevent them from experiencing or practicing gratefulness. They can’t enjoy a perfect cup of coffee, a clean bed, a meal in the ways that they should and need to be treasured. The small joys in life are completely thrown under the bus of overwhelm by the new houses and shiny cars and other toys that the empty gather to find solace and affirmation rather than simply experience and practice gratefulness.

And the grateful renew their gratefulness regularly, because they understand that it is a thinking and perspective exercise, not some number or object measurement tool. Appreciation for coffee at the perfect temperature is almost spiritual if you haven’t been distracted by BSO’s (bright shiny objects).