No pain No gain
In the article “What a Grateful Brain Looks Like” written by Adam Hoffman, he mentioned the study of Holocaust testimonies at USC (Go-Trojans!) showing enhanced activity in grateful brain regions associated with emotional processing, interpersonal bonding and rewarding social interactions, moral judgment, and the ability to understand the mental states of others.
Immediately I had to pen in my analysis of why I am constantly drawn towards survival stories. From Anne Frank, the Pianist, JoJo Rabbit, All the Lights We Cannot See and rewatched for the third time last night-Argo, these narratives marked a strong feeling of pain and hope in me. Are we humans capable of gratitude without distress? I do not believe so. Hear me out alright, in my early teen years, I have little memory of even needing to be grateful of all that I was given. Did I take things for granted? Absolutely. Was I intentional about it? No, definitely not. In fact, I wasn’t even aware that being ungrateful was an issue. That concept simply did not exist for me. I just knew that if someone did something nice, I had to say “thank you” because that’s just how the world turns around. No questions asked and no feelings felt, move on. In my late twenties and thirties, I went through real hardships that made me grateful for the basic human needs met. Roof over my head in safety? Grateful. Ability to work and afford my chosen lifestyle? Blessed.
So why am I like this? Are we evolved and programmed to be hurt so that we can learn about compassion through our survival? Are we then put on the crossroads to either become a “good” person or travel down the dark, judged path of a failed life? Was I a bad person because I was ungrateful and am I now a good person? Who even defined “good” or “bad?”
In today’s environment of woke culture where oppressed humans like myself learnt that there is suddenly green light to express myself and push back anyone in the way, how much is too far? Certainly, our social contract does not allow for complete, free self expression. I am starting to realize that I am at a privileged front seat to potentially, one day, drive this discussion.
Therefore, I shall go back to my Wellcoaches study now and progress on learning about the habit of connecting with gratitude.
