Gratitude in the Middle of the Moment
Have you ever noticed how quickly gratitude can disappear in the middle of an ordinary day?
Not in dramatic ways. In small ones.
An email that frustrates you.
A meeting that runs long.
A decision you wish you didn’t have to make.
Pressure you carry home without saying a word.
And most of the time… you don’t even notice the moment it slipped away.
Last week, we named something simple and honest:
𝙋𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖 𝙬𝙖𝙮 𝙤𝙛 𝙨𝙝𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙪𝙨. 𝙂𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙪𝙙𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣.
But an honest question follows:
𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙪𝙧𝙣… 𝙝𝙤𝙬?
Not in theory.
Not later, when everything settles down.
But in the middle of real leadership, real responsibility, and real life.
Because if gratitude only works in quiet moments, it won’t help you where you actually live.
Gratitude Lives in Micro-Moments
What I’m learning is this:
Gratitude rarely arrives as a grand gesture. More often, it appears as 𝐚 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.
The moment before you respond to an email that feels sharp.
The moment inside a conversation where tension is rising.
The moment after a hard decision, when second-guessing tries to take over.
These are the places where gratitude quietly waits.
Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just… patiently.
And when you notice it, something subtle begins to shift.
Your tone softens.
Your breathing slows.
Your thinking widens.
Your leadership becomes more human again.
Not perfect. Just present.
Before You Respond
There is often a tiny space between what happens and what we say next.
(That’s what Viktor Frankl taught us.)
Pressure tries to rush through that space. 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐢𝐭.
Sometimes the most powerful leadership move is a deliberate pause and a single quiet breath before you say anything else.
Inside the Conversation
Do you ever get so focused on the problem that you lose sight of the person in front of you?
Gratitude doesn’t ignore difficulty. But it gently reminds you:
There is a human being here. Not just an issue to solve.
And that remembering changes how you listen, how you speak, and how the moment ends.
After the Decision
Leadership and life are full of decisions that don’t come with certainty.
Afterward, the mind loves to replay, second-guess, ruminate, and carry weight that can’t be changed.
Gratitude offers a different ending:
Not “Did I get this perfect?” But “What is still good, still true, still possible now?”
And that quiet shift lets you move forward without hardening inside.
The Quiet Truth Beneath It All
Gratitude isn’t something you practice outside leadership.
It is something that quietly reshapes who you are inside it.
Not all at once.
Not dramatically.
But moment by moment…
Choice by choice…
Breath by breath.
And over time, those small unseen choices become a different way of living.
Your Invitation This Week
Not a big change. Just a small, honest experiment.
Choose one ordinary moment each day this week:
Before you respond
Inside a conversation
After a decision
And simply ask: “What would gratitude look like right here?”
No performance.
No perfection.
Just noticing…
And one small choice
Followed by action.
That’s enough. It always has been.
Walking With Others
If you’re practicing this alongside others, here’s a question to explore together:
Where in your leadership, or life, do you most need a pause before you respond?
One sentence is enough. Honesty is enough. You don’t have to carry it alone.
If you try this practice this week, you may notice something unexpected.
Not just how gratitude changes moments— but how much easier it becomes when someone else is practicing it too.
Because gratitude was never meant to be carried in isolation.
It grows stronger when it’s shared, spoken, and lived alongside others who are learning the same quiet return.
We’ll explore that together next week.
I’m grateful for you. 🌱