1/🧵Gratitude is Pain’s big brother
▪️Prof Greg teaches me to accept life on life’s terms
▪️ICU pts teach me how to traverse pain
▪️Gratitude is their close companion
▪️Gratitude is not just a tenet of etiquette – it’s an essential quality of well-being
#UpSyndrome
Pics w perm
▪️Prof Greg teaches me to accept life on life’s terms
▪️ICU pts teach me how to traverse pain
▪️Gratitude is their close companion
▪️Gratitude is not just a tenet of etiquette – it’s an essential quality of well-being
#UpSyndrome
Pics w perm
2/ I can’t pay gratitude w a checkbook, only from the ❤️
📍My Gratitude Ledger is in deficit because I don’t nurture #Wisdom
📍I underutilize this superpower of recovery
📍Gratitude is Greg’s antidote to victimhood
📍It helps him rise above any situation
#TheLuckyFew
📍My Gratitude Ledger is in deficit because I don’t nurture #Wisdom
📍I underutilize this superpower of recovery
📍Gratitude is Greg’s antidote to victimhood
📍It helps him rise above any situation
#TheLuckyFew
3/ Gratitude can’t be reduced to verbal or written acknowledgment of a gift 🎁
Greg has a deep sense of awareness of his interdependency on others, you & me, his sisters & brothers.
He’s gracious in heartfelt appreciation despite living w great disabilities.
#FindYourTribe
Greg has a deep sense of awareness of his interdependency on others, you & me, his sisters & brothers.
He’s gracious in heartfelt appreciation despite living w great disabilities.
#FindYourTribe
4/ I’m not self-sufficient
✔️ This fact is encoded in nature itself
✔️I came into existence completely & totally helpless & unaware of who I was
✔️Everything immediately following birth was done for me, except natural body functions & even these were tended to by others!
✔️ This fact is encoded in nature itself
✔️I came into existence completely & totally helpless & unaware of who I was
✔️Everything immediately following birth was done for me, except natural body functions & even these were tended to by others!
5/ Even as a child, I’d already accumulated innumerable gifts for which to be thankful & I plunged “into the red” in terms of gratefulness.
Somehow Greg never dipped into a well of self-pity
His heart remained where I want mine - constantly accepting what IS…
#DownSyndrome
Somehow Greg never dipped into a well of self-pity
His heart remained where I want mine - constantly accepting what IS…
#DownSyndrome
6/ Everything given to me has come at some sacrifice from someone else.
Sometimes these sacrifices were done voluntarily & joyfully, sometimes they were done begrudgingly.
Either way, sacrifices were made, and I do not stand alone on an island…
gratitude is in order…
Sometimes these sacrifices were done voluntarily & joyfully, sometimes they were done begrudgingly.
Either way, sacrifices were made, and I do not stand alone on an island…
gratitude is in order…
7/ It is a difficult truth that in some cases I owe a debt of gratitude to people who have not been very virtuous themselves.
A child of a bad parent may have many legitimate complaints about that parent…
Yet immense gain is mine of I change my mindset.
A child of a bad parent may have many legitimate complaints about that parent…
Yet immense gain is mine of I change my mindset.
8/One of the ways I get a sense of the importance of gratitude is by experiencing #ingratitude from others.
The feeling of being used is painful when I’ve given to others, or worse, when they deny the reality of the gift itself as if I had no role to play in their receiving it.
The feeling of being used is painful when I’ve given to others, or worse, when they deny the reality of the gift itself as if I had no role to play in their receiving it.
9/ Pain is greater when my gift was out of genuine love & not merely out of a sense of duty or pity.
Until I reach a greater state of spiritual enlightenment, the experience of ingratitude from others still leaves me feeling angry, betrayed & deeply hurt.
This is my error.
Until I reach a greater state of spiritual enlightenment, the experience of ingratitude from others still leaves me feeling angry, betrayed & deeply hurt.
This is my error.
10/ Let’s go deeper on this topic…
Does Ingratitude diminish personhood❓
🔹I believe it’s in giving that I receive
🔹When my gift is not acknowledged, does it diminish me?
🔹Am I bereft because I gave at a cost?
Does Ingratitude diminish personhood❓
🔹I believe it’s in giving that I receive
🔹When my gift is not acknowledged, does it diminish me?
🔹Am I bereft because I gave at a cost?
11/ When ingratitude is present, the reciprocity that connects giver & recipient is absent.
There’s a lack of wholeness in the relationship that I had anticipated.
Expectations control my thinking 💥
Good news: I can drop expectations in favor of acceptance.
There’s a lack of wholeness in the relationship that I had anticipated.
Expectations control my thinking 💥
Good news: I can drop expectations in favor of acceptance.
12/ A true gift is of course isn’t given with strings attached.
It’s not a fee paid for a service the giver expects to be rendered.
Gratitude is not the performance required after a purchased service.
It’s not a fee paid for a service the giver expects to be rendered.
Gratitude is not the performance required after a purchased service.
13/ Those dynamics are appropriate to contractual agreements - not personal relationships.
Gratitude presupposes a genuine freedom on the part of both giver & recipient.
The giver is not compelled to give, the recipient is not coerced to receive.
Gratitude presupposes a genuine freedom on the part of both giver & recipient.
The giver is not compelled to give, the recipient is not coerced to receive.
14/ Gratitude is the spontaneous reaction of appreciation in response to a gift, no matter how small.
When true giving is met with genuine gratitude, both giver & recipient grow in goodness.
But should my growth or joy in giving be diminished by a recipient’s anemic response?
When true giving is met with genuine gratitude, both giver & recipient grow in goodness.
But should my growth or joy in giving be diminished by a recipient’s anemic response?
15/ As a father, I have allowed myself to take it personally when what I gave was discarded or unwanted.
This is because I manufactured expectations that were unrealized.
Again, my problem…not theirs.
This is because I manufactured expectations that were unrealized.
Again, my problem…not theirs.
16/ As a recipient of #Grace, my own ingratitude imprisons me
☑️In contrast, gratitude transforms me as a recipient
☑️Gratitude takes the focus off me & orients me to the generosity of the Giver
☑️Thankfulness liberates me & predisposes me to receive greater spiritual gifts
☑️In contrast, gratitude transforms me as a recipient
☑️Gratitude takes the focus off me & orients me to the generosity of the Giver
☑️Thankfulness liberates me & predisposes me to receive greater spiritual gifts
17/ Wherever you are, whatever your station, how grateful are you?
How often do I accept the gift but fail to give thanks to the giver?
How often do I cherry pick the gifts for which to be grateful?
#Greg is very consistent.
My patients are a close second in thankfulness.
How often do I accept the gift but fail to give thanks to the giver?
How often do I cherry pick the gifts for which to be grateful?
#Greg is very consistent.
My patients are a close second in thankfulness.
18/ Ultimately I want to detach from what others say & do.
Except to draw on those experience & learn myself.
To become more like Greg, accepting of my place in this 🌎, I must SIMPLIFY my thinking.
Strip myself down & become unencumbered by pride.
#ChromosomallyEnhanced
Except to draw on those experience & learn myself.
To become more like Greg, accepting of my place in this 🌎, I must SIMPLIFY my thinking.
Strip myself down & become unencumbered by pride.
#ChromosomallyEnhanced
19/fin
There is Beauty in Simplicity 🧵👇
This is how Greg lives
Daily, I watch him take small events & display immense thankfulness
He is transformed
Am I being transformed?
Will I allow myself to be radically improved by acceptance & nurture gratefulness?
#DesignerGenes
There is Beauty in Simplicity 🧵👇
This is how Greg lives
Daily, I watch him take small events & display immense thankfulness
He is transformed
Am I being transformed?
Will I allow myself to be radically improved by acceptance & nurture gratefulness?
#DesignerGenes
https://twitter.com/WesElyMD/status/1485964336795459590
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