From Barbara Ehrenreich, To Barbara Ehrenreich
Today I am grateful for time with Leo, our grandson, and for our son Sam and his emotional health.
I am also grateful for the many authors I enjoy reading.
I am also grateful for the many authors I enjoy reading.
Bestselling author Barbara Ehrenreich is one such writer. She has a way of writing to the heart of the matter. Her essay titled "Welcome to Cancerland" was one of those zingers for me. Someone else was capturing a lot of my thoughts and emotions in their own words. Find that essay here. It originally appeared in Harper's Magazine in November of 2001. I came across it after my own diagnosis and treatment for breast cancer and found myself nodding my head in agreement many times as I read it.
She had a recent opinion essay in the New York Times titled "The Selfish Side of Gratitude." Find it
here. This time I found myself shaking my head in disagreement with Ehrenreich a few times.
here. This time I found myself shaking my head in disagreement with Ehrenreich a few times.
In the essay, Ehrenreich goes on the offensive regarding gratitude as selfish and being too much about making ourselves feel better. She argues that many gratitude practices are solo efforts and don't involve others. They may start as such, like me writing in my gratitude journal each morning. That is just between me and my Higher Power and the pen and paper. Or my A-Z lists I will do in my head while commuting or exercising. Again, just me and a spiritual connection.
Ehrenreich argues that we need to address social inequality and other injustices, and that maybe gratitude isn't as prosocial as researchers make it sound. This is where I disagree with Ms. Ehrenreich. Gratitude practice allows me to have a better perception of myself and the world around me, which allows me to get out of bed each day and be a contributing member of society. I am more likely to notice and help address injustice and inequality, even in little ways, because I am present in the here and now and I realize what just happened. And I definitely have more energy to be a contributor as well.
Gratitude practice isn't as much about "positive thinking," which this author also targets (and rightly so) in a book titled Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America, as it is about creating more positive perceptions. And that leads to energy, tolerance, effort; not only for ourselves but for our larger world.
Ms. Ehrenreich and I agree on this. Positive thinking is pretty fruitless if that is as far as you go. You will be waiting a long time if you think the rewards will come to you. Get out of your own head and get off of your own wish list and contribute to the wish list of a more tolerant, kind, and sustainable planet.
To Barbara Ehrenreich, thank you from one writer to another. You push the citizenry to think more and to think differently about many things. That is the essence of an effective author.
Ehrenreich argues that we need to address social inequality and other injustices, and that maybe gratitude isn't as prosocial as researchers make it sound. This is where I disagree with Ms. Ehrenreich. Gratitude practice allows me to have a better perception of myself and the world around me, which allows me to get out of bed each day and be a contributing member of society. I am more likely to notice and help address injustice and inequality, even in little ways, because I am present in the here and now and I realize what just happened. And I definitely have more energy to be a contributor as well.
Gratitude practice isn't as much about "positive thinking," which this author also targets (and rightly so) in a book titled Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America, as it is about creating more positive perceptions. And that leads to energy, tolerance, effort; not only for ourselves but for our larger world.
Ms. Ehrenreich and I agree on this. Positive thinking is pretty fruitless if that is as far as you go. You will be waiting a long time if you think the rewards will come to you. Get out of your own head and get off of your own wish list and contribute to the wish list of a more tolerant, kind, and sustainable planet.
To Barbara Ehrenreich, thank you from one writer to another. You push the citizenry to think more and to think differently about many things. That is the essence of an effective author.
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