Friday Real Talk

Gratitude Is Not a Mood — It’s a Decision

This morning I listened to Shi Heng Yi speak about gratitude.

Not the kind people post about.

The disciplined kind.

He talks about being thankful for all of it —

the good,

the challenging,

the painful.

Because every single experience shaped the person you are today.

Now here’s the part that really sat with me:

Let go of the past.

Don’t even think about tomorrow.

Focus solely on today.

And I had to ask myself…

How much of my energy is still tied to something that already happened?

How much of my peace is being borrowed by something that hasn’t even occurred yet?

We say we want peace.

But we replay conversations.

We rehearse arguments.

We forecast problems.

That’s not living today.

That’s living everywhere but here.

Gratitude isn’t pretending life was easy.

It’s recognizing that the hard moments built strength.

Letting go doesn’t mean you approve of what happened.

It means you refuse to let it manage you.

And not obsessing over tomorrow doesn’t mean you lack ambition.

It means you understand that today is the only place you actually have power.

So here’s the real question:

If today was the only day you were allowed to think about…who would you be in it?

Calmer?

More intentional?

Less reactive?

Peace isn’t mystical.

It’s a disciplined focus.

And that’s the lesson.