We are living in a culture where spirituality, gratitude, and practicing the law of attraction are all quite trendy. This is not a negative thing of course — making the effort to be grateful and positive every day can have huge impacts on your overall happiness. However, it’s much easier to jump on board the train and claim gratitude than it is to really step back and look at your relationship to your circumstances every day.
Many travellers will claim that above all, travelling taught them to be grateful for the opportunities they have to travel, to have been born into situations where travel is even a possibility. I am not here to say that is not the case. Coming face to face with poverty, exploitation, and injustice on varying levels is truly eye-opening when it is so distant from the reality you’ve known your whole life. It is a different thing to read articles and see images online than it is to see and hear stories in person. I’d say it is impossible for the average person to not be overcome with gratitude when faced with these situations.
However, gratitude can dissipate quickly when confronted with the common human condition that can easily be summed up with “so, what next?”
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