Thoughts on reaching 100,000 'Thank Yous': How my perspective on life has changed

I finally started around February, and my 'Thank You habit' has surpassed 100,000 repetitions! How wonderful! So, I've summarized
'what kind of changes I've experienced after saying thank you for 8 months'!

[Conclusion]
I was skeptical, but after saying 'thank you' 100,000 times, I was surprised to find that the way I see the world (and the physical sensations that come with it) has completely changed.

◆What I did
Just 5 minutes every morning, while basking in the sun, I say 'thank you' out loud (and use it like a mantra in my spare time). You don't need to put any feeling into it; mechanical is fine.

◆For example, when you look at the town you live in, what do you think?
I wrote an article with a similar theme when I reached 4,000 repetitions, so it seems convenient for comparison.
I will line up and compare the differences between before starting the thank you habit, at 4,000 repetitions, and at 100,000 repetitions.

Before I reached 4,000 repetitions after about a month of continuing,
I didn't have any particular thoughts when looking at the town.
It just felt like the usual town.
If I was tired, I might think, 'Ah, I want to relax in nature.'
If I was feeling a bit depressed, for example, just seeing people laughing happily might have made my mood even grayer.
I am naturally an introverted type; to put it nicely, I am calm, but to put it bluntly, I have a personality that tends toward depression.
So, I feel like it wasn't rare for me to be like that in the past.

Now, what did I think when I looked at the same town at 4,000 repetitions?

Oh, the police officer is watching over the town again today, I'm grateful. An old man is talking to a child. That's heartwarming. A family is walking holding hands, that's soothing. The sunlight is warm and it's comfortable. And the air is flowing today too, I'm grateful.

That's how I started looking at the town.
(Of course, not all the time, but as long as I'm not feeling particularly bad.)
This isn't me trying to force myself to find gratitude; at some point, I realized that gratitude as a physical sensation, and now I can think that way naturally.

So, now that I've reached 100,000 repetitions, what do I think when I look at the same town?

For example, just recently, when I looked at the town after doing my morning thank yous on the balcony, these thoughts came to me.

First, the sun is shining in the sky.
It's amazing. That's sunlight from 8 minutes ago. It traveled all the way through space to reach this Earth. I'm so glad it made it this far. I'm grateful.

And people are walking on the street.
It's amazing. That is also the figure of a person from 0.00000-something seconds ago, and the light is delivering it to my eyes so I can see it.

Which means the field of vision I'm seeing right now could be called a phantom of the past, but 0.000000-something seconds ago, that person was at that spot on that street thinking, 'Alright, I'm heading to the station,' and taking one step after another forward.

In other words, that person's 'will to move forward' is reaching my eyes and being seen. That is seriously amazing.

Moreover, inside that person's body right now, all the cells are working in full force to fulfill their will to head to the station.
That's why that person is able to head to the station. It's amazing, it's a drama. I'm grateful. The human body is truly amazing.

And on top of that, people are coming and going here and there, cars are running properly today without their bodies falling apart, street trees are existing as street trees while supplying oxygen, and the light is still carrying their images to me right now, I'm grateful. Truly grateful.
This world is just full of things to be grateful for. Happiness.

Well, I naturally end up thinking things like that.
It makes you laugh, right? lol
Even if I were called an eccentric, there's no room for argument.
I think so myself.
But I'm not exaggerating; this is the truth.
If you can feel this much 'gratitude' just by looking at the town, don't you think it would be hard to be unhappy?
That's right.
It's a state of mind where I wonder if I'll ever have those gray or dark feelings like I used to for the rest of my life.

'Hey, what's that? Are you trying to force yourself to believe that?'
Some people might have that question, but
I will state clearly that this is not the case.

Rather, it is precisely because I am mechanically saying 'thank you'
'What am I grateful for? I don't get it. Is it something like this?'
While I'm thinking vaguely like that,
at some point, it's as if the gears clicked into place,
and I realize it within myself.
That I hadn't been seeing the gratitude at all.

'I think that things that seem like nothing are happiness~'
There is a famous lyric that says that,
and I had known that as knowledge for a long time.
I understood it in my head, thinking, 'Yeah, things that seem like nothing are happiness,' and I felt like I understood it enough.
But I didn't understand it at all as a physical sensation,
and I realize that with a jolt.

This was a revolution in my life.
It was an eye-opening experience that I never thought possible.
There were times when I thought, 'I guess I'll just go on living the rest of my life like this,' but
that was not the case at all.
I was moved by the realization that one's eyes can suddenly be opened.

That is why I am absolutely determined to continue this habit for the rest of my life.

Of course, I don't always feel this way.
In fact, there are times when I look at the town with the same mindset I had before I started the 'Thank You' habit.
When I'm at work or when my mode has switched, I don't think about these things all the time.

However, how should I put it? There is a term called 'basal metabolism,' and in a sense, my 'basal gratitude' has increased, so I no longer get irritated by small things or suffer fatal damage.
Because the foundation of gratitude for living has become solid, those things seem trivial to me.

I hardly watch the news anymore.
There are wars and all sorts of strange conflicts happening, but I wonder why they are doing such things and if they are having fun. Rather than reacting to such things one by one, I live my life thinking that practicing living in a good mood while simply being grateful to the world is my own way of peace activism.

I will continue to do this in the future. I would like to periodically write about the changes in my state of mind. Thank you for reading.

※ If you would like to know about the specific effects of the 'Thank You' habit and its transition, please check out my past articles and magazines here.
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