Gratitude

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude.” Denis Waitley
 




Why practice gratitude? Does gratitude mean ignoring challenging moments and ‘faking’ it? What can gratitude  actually do for you?


I am fascinated  lately with the concept of gratitude and how it can help support living a fuller life. As I have discussed in my recents posts about the power of positive thinking, I have been searching on how and why gratitude connects to this. When life is hard (which it often is), it is really easily to fall into negative thought patterns and focus on the bad. And truth be told, the bad can easily consume and override the positives.


I often hear about creating a gratitude journal and have disregarded this as a feeble attempt to make you feel better about sucky situations.  As I have really started to research and better understand gratitude, I realize that thinking about it in a black or white context does not serve me or my life. I have been challenging myself to use AND and apply this to my life. This mindset of not allowing gratitude because I am having a hard day makes these two concepts exclusive rather than inclusive. Rather than saying “ I am having a hard day, everything is horrible. This is saying: “I am having a hard day AND I can appreciate the beautiful sunset, etc.”



What stops you from seeking happiness? How does your mindset control your mood and outlook? The most amazing portion of the brain is that you can slowly start to challenge your brain to seek positives along with the hardships of life.


Your and your significant other break up, you get hurt, someone dies, you lose a friend, etc; nothing will take away the pain. The point of creating a gratitude journal or response is not intended to lessen or take away the pain. Actually, it is important to feel, grieve and connect with the pain. The point of the gratitude is reminders that despite all the shit that is going wrong, there are still tiny moments and glimpse of joy if you can allow yourself to see them.



Gratitude does not take away or diminish pain, loss or sadness. It can simple provide a small nugget of hope or brief moment of reprieve.
 
So, friends, I encourage you to take a few moments a day to create a list of gratitude. If this is really challenging, reach out to others or me to help you find some perspective. Life is not meant to be a battle fought alone.
 


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