Americans live in a culture that teaches the "unvalue" of entitlement. We think the world owes us. We think people owe us. We think stores and restaurants owe us. we think our spouse owes us. We think our church owes. We think God owes us.
The litmus test for an entitlement attiude is if we get angry, resentful or frustrated when we don't get our way. When we don't get paid what we are owed. When our expectations aren't met.
The truth is the world owes us nothing. God owes us nothing. People owe us nothing. Our spouse owes us nothing.
What if we replaced the "entitlement" attidude with one of gratitude. What if instead of thinking that the world and everyone in it owes us something, what if instead we functioned out of the truth that everything good that happens to us is a gift. And sometimes, even bad things that happen to us are a gift (obviously there are major exceptions, but we often grow through difficult times).
The gratitude attitude (rhyme unintentional) will free us from the anger, resentment and frustration when we live out of an entitlement attiude.
Gratitude, thankfulness and recognizing all good things in our lives as gifts is the antidote to entitlement and I believe the antidote to freedom and life of fulfillment.
May you take the dose of gratitude everyday and be set free from entitlement tendencies.
(The thoughts from this blog mainly come from the article found here).
2 comments:
This concept is so important! Thank you for your thoughtful article! ..I'm a psychotherapist and relationship counselor in Chicago and for some particular reason lately I've had several couples that are being destroyed from a sense of entitlement, which leads to anger, to fighting, and to the expectation of an apology from their partner while denying any responsibility over the destructive cycle. With gratitude as the foundation and hope replacing expectation many of them are on the path of recovery from the sinister disease called entitlement.
Thanks for commenting. I appreciate your thoughts. It's definitely something that's easier to read than it is to practice!
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