Thankful Thursday...er Friday

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After coming off of my funk from missing my best friend and NYC combined with the punch in the gut news that I received in the middle of the week, I am starting today with a new foot forward.  This week I have spent a lot of time reflecting and my mind keeps wandering back to one simple notion.

 Ego vs Gratitude vs Society.

If there was ever a microcosm of todays society that lived and breathed and sustained it would be New York City.  The amount of 'daily lives' that buzz around that city are unreal, yet there was an underwhelming sense of gratitude and human connection being shown.  As a matter of fact I was laughed at by my best friend and her husband about how kind and happy I was towards the locals.  Truly, it's just second nature to me now.  You treat people kind and fair.  You give that stranger an extra second to say hello.  An excuse me on the subway can prevent ruining someones train ride.  A gentle touch and warm glance can provide that much needed human connection.  Celebrating someone for just being can be one of the most rewarding gestures.  Now I must side note here....I don't want you guys to think that I am some sort of freak who went around the city with a cheesy smile pasted on my face, touching every stranger, and making small talk with every passer by...they have a special name for people like that...it's called crazy.  Instead I just continued my daily practice of showing people that 'I cared' in a place where no shits are given about the person next to you.

All of this thinking about a lack of human connection and perception of down right anger makes me think.  What causes people who are by nature supposed to be happy, to be so unhappy?  I have gone back and forth on this weighing out the possibilities of 'why', and it really boils down to one thing.  Ego.  We are trapped in a reality where people have a tendency to believe that their problem are the most important. Their shit stinks more than your shit.  They have had a harder day. And here's where the Ego really kicks in.....NONE of this is their fault.  The professional Ego centric maniac has no problem passing all of that blame of their own hardships right onto someone else's plate.  Anyone else's to be frank.  Where does all of this lead us?  In my opinion, downfall.  I truly believe that living an Ego centric life is the downfall of society.  And you can scale that 'society' on many different levels, it could be a family society, work, community, city, country, ect. In short if you live on the top of your ivory tower thinking that the reason that you shit stinks is due to everyone around you, at some point everyone is going to get tired of smelling your shit and move on.

The moral of this increasingly long winded story is this.  If you choose to be Ego centric that is your prerogative but know this, you are choosing a life of solitude and your microcosm of society will crumble around your shity smelling pedestal.  If you decide that that life stinks then you must remove your head out of your own ass and choose to live a life of gratitude.  I choose that life. 

Reconnect with the human connection.  Be grateful and Inspire.