And then, I had to ask myself what had I ever done to deserve this experience?*
(Russell Schweickart)

Gratitude works. Gratitude scales. Gratitude creates a positive cycle of more gratitude. When in doubt, default to gratitude.**
(Seth Godin)

Gratitude changed the moment. Russell Schweickart was alone outside the spacecraft while a problem inside Apollo 9 was being dealt with. Five minutes, travelling at 17,000 miles an hour must have felt like an eternity. And then the realisation.

Schweickart’s words can properly be owned by all of us on spaceship Earth. We couldn’t do anything to earn this shot at life, but now we’re here. What we discover is that gratitude is transformative:

An abundant society can’t be created with a narrative of scarcity.^

(*Astronaut Russell Schweickart, quoted in Joseph Campell’s The Hero’s Journey.)
(*From Seth Godin’s blog: If every day were thanksgiving.)
(^From Bernadette Jiwa’s The Right Story.)