The Gratitude Trap

The Gratitude Trap or I would call it the Stagnation by Gratitude. 

This blog is a part of my book, but I wanted to share it here too. 

I’m seeing this trend where a few people are getting caught up in this “LIVE IN THE PRESENT” trap! Yes, it’s a trap. But before I say why it’s a trap, I’ll tell you this. I surely believe in living in the present, gratitude and the benefits it brings into your life. 

But the problem is it when it becomes the trap. And the trap is when people substitute procrastination for gratitude. When people are not doing work and they are just grateful for living in the present, that means they are settling, they are stagnating. Then, gratitude is just procrastination in disguise.

Of course, it’s good for you to pause your working once in a while, maybe 1 or 2 days in a week or probably a week after 2 months of creative work. And being grateful for just the little things as simple as just living, breathing and watching the sunrise and set is surely a well-deserved therapy you’re giving to your body, mind and soul.

But instead of resuming to work towards whatever we want to pursue and starting to move the settled boulder if we get accustomed to the inertia induced by the pause we took, it doesn’t help you. The stagnation begins.

Life must have both entropy and slowness, then only will it be in balance.

If you just go with the flow, you are just a dead fish.

The feel of gratitude or the “Live in the present” might as well be resistance pulling you away from the best version of yourself who can make the best work out of his/her reflection or intuition.

Signs that you’re trapped by gratitude:

1. You are not getting things done you thought to do or that task you’ve written on your to-do list.
2. You put off things to later. You tend to procrastinate. A lot!
3. Deeply, you are unhappy. Because your SELF wants you to be the best version and craft the best work possible. But when you are not doing that, you’ll unhappy. This is especially true for artists.
4. If you review your past week, past month, quarter or even a year, you may not have anything that you did which you can say you’re proud of. It might be anything, it might be as simple as ticking off your to-do list every day for 30 days in a streak. If you’re not progressing, then you are stagnating, as simple as that.
5. You might be emphasising too much on stimulating yourself with positive thoughts and quotes by someone. At the surface, it might feel as though you are being positive. But deep down you are suffering. If you are truly positive, healthy and living in the present, you don’t need external stimulations like these. You are naturally positive, present and grateful for life. And naturally, you won’t need to show that you are positive and grateful to everyone because internally, you are secure.

But no worries if you think you have these symptoms, now that you’ve realized it, you can change it. Stop stagnating. Don’t Settle. Start moving! Take action and grow.

As Robin Sharma says – You are the happiest when you are growing. Very true! When you are in the path of progress, in any field for that matter, you are in the most joyful state.

It might be anything, reading books, writing notes, creating a piece of content daily, anything. Take action in the direction you want your life to progress in.

Thank You,

Yours Loving,

Sanath Kumar Naibhi