Being grateful can change your life
Start each day with a grateful heart
Sounds simple, right? But how many of us actually do that? I’m willing to bet not a lot of people.
I know from my own experience that it’s a lot easier to focus on what you don’t have. We delay, postpone or totally deny our own joy of living in the present because we wrongly believe we will be happy when we get that job, that car, that house, that body, that love, that business, that… [fill in the blank]
Most times, we don’t realise that if we don’t manage to be content with what we have right now, we probably won’t be when we get those things we desperately want. When our happiness depends on external factors or other people, we will always be disappointed.
It’s our own responsibility to make ourselves happy.
We can choose to be happy everyday if we want to. But most of us expect the magic pill that will change everything.
What is gratitude anyway?
Gratitude is a positive emotional state in which we recognise and appreciate what we have in life. Research shows that taking time to experience gratitude can make you happier and even healthier.
What I find really interesting is this: even a simple thing such as writing a gratitude letter to someone who you’re thankful for, can have a long lasting effect on your happiness.
Wong and Brown from Indiana University, used an fMRI scanner to measure brain activity between people who wrote letters of gratitude and those who didn’t. What they found was three months after writing the letter the subjects showed “greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experienced gratitude in the fMRI scanner.”
This indicated that simply expressing gratitude may have lasting effects on our brains.
And I can surely attest to that. I wanted to share with you what giving thanks has done for me. I’ve been journaling on and off for many years but for the last 2 years my intention has been to journal regularly, more or less everyday. Regardless of the day I had before or how I wake up, I start each day with a morning mantra where I give thanks for another day, for my health, for the connections that I’ve created in my life, for all the great things that I have going for myself.
I’ve realised a few months ago that this is more than a routine, it’s a habit that has transformed my life. Not only does it bring to mind what I have and what I am thankful for, the amazing humans I have in my life but it’s also a powerful reminder of how abundant my life is. As such, my mind is focused on the abundance, not the lack, which in itself is a powerful shift. At the same time, it creates positive energy and I find myself being more content and rooted in the present.
It sounds (and is) simple but as I always say, we tend to dismiss the simple things because they are, well.. simple. Simple things done consistently can enhance our lives. In the end, it’s all about applying what we know.
Especially in uncertain times, being grateful for what we have, can tremendously change our experience and shift our perspective. What we don’t realise is, things are always uncertain but sometimes, when we feel more in control, we perceive them as more certain.
For me 2019 was a year filled with uncertainty as I quit a cushy full time role to pursue work that I really wanted to do. Of course there were a lot of things and people that helped but the single best thing I did for myself was incorporating a morning journaling practice focused on gratefulness. I can say hands down it was one of the things that made the most difference.
But don’t take my word for it. If you’re stuck right now with everything happening around you, try practicing gratefulness for 30 days and notice how you feel. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, you don’t need to be thankful for things you think you should, but aren’t. Choose what you’re really grateful for. It can be as simple as clean sheets, having enough food, access to a hot shower or as profound as your health or the meaningful connections you have in your life.
Journaling also increases self awareness, it allows you to evaluate your experiences and it most certainly enables growth.
Stephen R. Covey, couldn’t have said it better:
Keeping a personal journal, a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them.
What are you waiting for? Try practicing gratitude for the next 30 days and notice how it makes you feel. Would love to hear about your experience too in the comments :)
