Studies show that gratitude is a key to happiness, and I'm grateful for ELECTRICITY.
Yesterday afternoon, as I was psyching myself up to do a half-hour stint on a radio show, the power went out. The building alarm started blaring, so I knew it wasn't just our apartment. I was wondering how to figure out if other buildings were affected, when I looked out the back window and noticed that dozens of people in other buildings were opening their windows and looking out. So it didn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that this was a neighborhood problem.
We New Yorkers are a slightly skittish bunch these days. The power goes out, and we fear the worst. My mother-in-law gets a gold star for having given us a battery-operated radio and a set of batteries; I grabbed the radio, popped in the batteries, and turned on an all-news radio station.
They were talking about the humidity level, so I figured no major disaster had struck. Then I learned that parts of Manhattan and the Bronx were dark.
The power was out for about an hour, and boy was I HAPPY when it came back on. The phones! The gas stove! The subways! The air-conditioning! My computer! (though I still don't have any internet; I'm posting this from the library). Not to mention the most important fact: the black-out was nothing more than an ordinary loss of service.
Because of the "hedonic treadmill," we quickly adapt to our life circumstances, so it's easy to take even major comforts--like electricity--for granted. One cure for the hedonic treadmill is deprivation; deprive yourself of your comforts for a time, and you'll appreciate them anew when you experience them again. (This is one reason that camping is fun.)
It took just one hour without electricity to mean that I received a major boost of gratitude and happiness when the electricity came roaring back on.
...and there's nothing, I think, like backpacking and reducing everything you need for days (sometimes weeks) to what you can carry on your own back to make you look at everything you have in a different light. That feeling can be one of gratitude, but even more of self-reliance, and self-confidence.
Posted by: Sharyn | June 28, 2007 at 04:19 PM
We lost electricity for 36 hours during an ice storm this past spring. It gave me a new appreciation of electricity, and gratitude that we keep a five gallon cooler of water in the garage, and that our gas stove will work with matches.
Posted by: Elaine | June 28, 2007 at 07:36 PM
I was watching a news item about a power outage in Karachi, Pakistan, caused by a cyclone there as I opened your blog and for a second thought you were talking about that. I grew up in India, and power outages were a completely normal occurence there. The power goes out, we calmly bring out the candles and matches and the little handheld fans, and get on with life. . .
The more "developed" we get, the harder time we have dealing with these issues that are quite ordinary in the developing world.
Posted by: Inihtar | June 28, 2007 at 11:40 PM
Although Guam is a US territory, we routinely put up with loss of power, loss of water, and shortages of items. Location is everything! And, like you, I have learned to be grateful for these things previously taken for granted.
Posted by: Mary K | June 29, 2007 at 08:02 PM
I too undersand the fear of inconvenience of being without a modern convenience. I say that I am trying to do all the normal things the best way I can. Camping is probly all about discovering how much one can live without and how independent one really is. Never thot of that and have never felt comfortable when its considered. Water problems are another thing that throw me for a loop worse than poser trouble. Being aware of this keeps me humble and it reminds me that becoming complacent about modern life is a one of the fastest ways for me to discover a test that I am going to have to go thru and how ill-equipped I am to deal with the current mess. I take nothing for granted.
Posted by: Meg | June 29, 2007 at 10:05 PM
Gratitude is really something I don't believe in until I implement it in my life and it just blow me away
I don't expect gratitude can change my relationship issue and bring my family much more love and prosperity today
http://secretofunlimitedprosperity.com/53/9-secret-steps-to-life-transformation-karens-story-on-gratitude/
I am grateful that I know of this blog which allows me to share with your readers how they can use gratitude to change their life too
Cheers, Karen
Posted by: karenlim | July 01, 2007 at 01:35 PM