Many years ago my friend Donna had an interesting experience that she compared to winning the lottery. She was so touched by this experience that she became very aware of how grace-filled her life was. What she had normally taken for granted, she now found to be remarkable and filled with grace. So what kind of extraordinary good fortune came Donna’s way? Why was she feeling so grateful, so lucky? Here’s what happened:
Nothing happened.
You see Donna and her husband were living in Huntingdon, PA and Hurricane Sandy was headed straight for them, with 90 mph winds and drenching rains. For days, the weather channels tracked the hurricane moving up the eastern seaboard and predicting where it would turn west and hit land. Tens of millions of people watched and waited, doing what they could to brace for the storm. And the force of the hurricane did hit, destroying homes, turning roads into rivers and cars into boats, and claiming lives. But millions of people got lucky because “nothing happened.”
When was the last time you felt grateful because nothing happened? Think of all the things that don’t happen every day. Nobody crashed into your car on the way home from work. The electricity didn’t go out. You didn’t get hit by lightning or die of a heart attack. We don’t ordinarily feel grateful for all of this, but sometimes we do, when the possibility of such occurrences becomes real for us. Then, when nothing happens, it’s like winning the lottery.
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance that your life is relatively safe. So safe that you spend most days without thinking about the issue of safety. You’re so safe that safety isn’t on your mind. And so when nothing happens, you don’t feel particularly grateful. You expect to be safe just as you expect the light to go on when you hit the switch on the wall.
“Nothing happened” isn’t particularly exciting. There’s no drama to it, it’s not very entertaining and it doesn’t make for a good story. But when you expect to die, and you don’t, it’s worthy of celebration. So take a moment and sit back — breathe in nothing happened and breathe out a breath of gratitude.
Our lives are all hanging by a thread. It makes us nervous to think about it, so we try not to, but that thread has held us since we were born. And at least once in a while, it’s good to notice it. Here’s to the net that continues to hold us safely, here’s to the wobble that keeps us alert, and here’s to the nothing that happened today.
photo credit: Niccolò Ubalducci
Gregg Krech is the author of five books about Japanese Psychology, including the award-winning Naikan: Gratitude, Grace & the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection. Gregg will be teaching a 30-day online program called Living on Purpose, beginning on Jan. 8, 2025.
Tags: Crisis gratitude Mental Wellness Mindfulness Thirty Thousand Days
