Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever (Psalm 106:1).
A Gratitude Deficit[1]
SAINT IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA THOUGHT that a particular type of ignorance was at the root of sin. The deadliest sin, he said, is ingratitude. It is “the cause, beginning, and origin of all evils and sins.” If you asked a hundred people to name the sin that’s the origin of all evils, I’ll bet none of them would say ingratitude. They would say pride or disobedience or greed or anger. The idea that we sin because we’re not sufficiently aware of God’s goodness probably wouldn’t occur to too many people. By emphasizing gratitude, Ignatius was saying something about the nature of God. God is the generous giver, showering us with blessings like the sun shining on the earth. If we truly understood this, we would return God’s love with love. We wouldn’t sin. Gratitude is a good word for this fundamental quality of our relationship with God. Ingratitude, our blindness to who God truly is, is thus the root of all sin.
Three Blessings[2]
The Three Blessings Exercise is intended to increase your gratitude, happiness, and well-being. It does this by a simple method of redirecting attention towards positive thoughts and away from negative thoughts. Human beings have evolved to spend much more time thinking about negative experiences than positive ones. We spend a lot of time thinking about what has gone wrong, what stinks about life, or how we aren’t stacking up. In the past, there may have been an evolutionary advantage to this way of thinking since it seems to be innate. However, for modern humans, this negative bias is the source of a lot of anxiety, depression, and a general lack of well-being. Luckily, by re‐directing our thoughts on purpose towards positive events, we can do a lot to correct this negative bias.
Method
This exercise is done each night before going to sleep.
Step 1: Think about anything good that happened to you today. It can be anything at all that seems positive to you. It need not be anything big or important. For example, you might recall the fact that you enjoyed the oatmeal you had for breakfast. On the other hand, you might also recall that you got a clear result from a medical test, or you had uninterrupted sleep. Anything from the most simple to the most exalted works, as long as it is a good, positive, happy thing.
Step 2: Write down these three positive things.
Step 3: Reflect on why each good thing happened. Determining the “why” of the event is the most important part of the exercise. For example, you might say that your oatmeal tasted really good this morning because your spouse took the time to go shopping at the local farmer’s market where they have fresh, organic oatmeal. Or, if you are a parent, you might say that your child took its first step today because God was pouring blessings down upon your family, or because your small daughter really wanted to get to some cookies on the table. You decide the reasons for each event.
Step 4: Thank God for the three blessings of your day.
[1] Jim Manney A Gratitude Deficit https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/a-gratitude-deficit/
[2] This exercise was created by psychologist Martin Seligman. He is considered to be an expert on depression and happiness, has been called the “father of Positive Psychology,” and is one of the preeminent psychologists of the 20th century. He is also the director of the Positive Psychology Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The Three Blessings Exercise has been clinically demonstrated to be effective.
Walking with Inigo — The Ignatian Camino 