We weren’t designed to be grateful.

“And indeed, your Lord is full of bounty for the people, but most of them do not show gratitude.” (QS 27:73)

I remember joining a talk from Sheikh Ammar Al-Shukry where we were discussing about the importance of gratitude. I was listening to it passingly if I recall correctly, not very focused, until he said these words and they still stick with me to this day;

“Humans were never designed to be grateful. We have this constant urge to always be unsatisfied.”

I felt like I got hit by a truck because I always assumed that being grateful was our default setting. That we were the ones rejecting this by wanting more — when actually it’s the opposite. Our default setting is to always want more, quite like the hit song ‘Never Enough’ from the Greatest Showman. That even we every single star in the palm of our hands, it wouldn’t be enough for us. Our factory mode is to be ungrateful, the war we must win is actually this war against ourselves.

Against our ingratitude, against our insecurities. I recall a saying that, “The greatest jihad is the jihad against ourselves.” and I couldn’t agree more. It’s hard to wake up and not give into laziness, to look at problems and have a positive outlook, to not succumb to what others say of us but rather how Allah SWT sees us. And it’s really tough to see others have things you are longing for to the point that you get blinded to any good in your life because you’re fixated on what you haven’t received yet.

I’m learning and training myself every day, to be grateful for the time in between my du’as and when my du’as become a reality. That there must be something good in it, that it will lead to something great — as Allah SWT always ensures it does. There are moment it’s still difficult, still moments I’m tempted to fall back into a habit of nitpicking my blessings, but I trust that what ever I need to learn now, will bring me an even more beautiful future than I could ever imagine.

Happiness is not endless joy and laughter. It is the ability to see life through the lens of gratitude — that no matter what the situation, we say Alhamdulillah. For how can we appreciate the sunshine, if we have never stood in the rain?