Abhijeet_talk: THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

THE POWER OF GRATITUDE

“Gratitude is not only the greatest of the virtues but the parent of all others.” - Cicero

Do you feel stressed out about the people, things, and incidents in your life?

Do you think that nothing is good in the present life?

Do you always focus on the negative side of life?

Do you feel that life would be happier with different types of people, things, and situations?

I know you do think and feel so. Most of the time you just think about your weaknesses. You focus on the dark side of life. You have fed up with the people around you which could be your parents, spouse, children, colleague, or boss. You have got tired of the things in your daily life that could be anything from a toothbrush to your home. You have grown impatient with the daily activities. You are not happy with your body and physical appearance too. You feel low due to the so-called shortcomings that you have invented. Your mind is just wondering about the things that you don’t have. This thought of having nothing useful with you is making you pessimistic.

You always want something different and bigger in your life and you are not happy with the present life. it’s ok to want bigger in life but being not happy with what you have now makes you negative. This feeling of always lacking something and ignoring the good things you have or taking them for a grant makes you more unhappy.

While thinking about the future and lackings in life, you forget the blessings you have got in the present. It is like focusing on the thorns and ignoring the flowers, thinking about the piercing of the thorns, and neglecting the soft petals and enchanting fragrances.

And the foremost thing is that you are not only becoming negative about life but you are keeping yourself away from the most magical and powerful emotion i.e., GRATITUDE. Gratitude is the life-changing emotion you can ever have in your life if you just adjust your focus from wanting to having and convert it into action.

What Is Gratitude?

Gratitude which is known as thankfulness or gratefulness is an emotion and action of appreciation by a recipient of another’s kindness, help, favor, or other forms of generosity. It is considering and acknowledging the importance of the people, things, and incidents you have in your life and expressing your deep thankfulness towards them for being in your life. it is paying the attention to everything which is making your life and appreciating it with deep emotion and action of gratefulness. It is embracing good things you have and praising them.

Gratitude has religious, spiritual, and psychological perspectives. Every religion teaches us to value our human life. Spiritually gratitude helps us to get connected with our own higher self. Psychologically it creates a very positive impact on our mind and body. More recently a branch of psychology named positive psychology has expanded research on the importance of gratitude. Researcher Robert Emmons has authored several writings on the psychology of gratitude, stating that being more grateful can lead to an increased level of well-being.

Steps Of Gratitude

Step 1 – first comes the acknowledgment of goodness in your life. you identify and realize everything positive you have in your life. You feel life is worth living. You start feeling the emotion of gratitude deeply.

Step 2 – Expressing your gratitude towards everything that could be any of your personality traits, people, things, and incidents in your life.

Step 3 – Adopting new behavior with everything that you feel and express gratitude. You feel the change in the way you look at everything. Your actions become more meaningful.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them.

– John F. Kenedy.

Benefits Of Expressing Gratitude

As you start practicing gratitude magic begins in your life. This will make you a powerful person. You will start counting a lot of positive changes in your mindset and behavior.

Enhanced Well-Being

A large body of work in the early 21st century has suggested that more grateful people have higher levels of subjective well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives. They are found to be more joyful in the long term.

Improved Positivity

Before expressing gratitude, you have to think about the positive things in your life. This leads you to identify and acknowledge the positive personal traits, people, and things in your life. you realize the resources hidden inside you. You get control over the challenges. You find yourself positive and proactive. Long-lasting and consistence positivity is possible by expressing gratitude in daily life.

Better Relationships

When you understand the importance of others in your life and express gratitude towards them, their behavior becomes more considerate and positive towards you. You follow forgive and forget principle in your life. Giving thanks to those who help you and make your life meaningful strengthens your relationships with them. People become valuable to each other.

Becoming More Optimistic

Life is always full of problems and struggles. You may lose your hope in fighting the obstacles in life. you may see only negativity everywhere but as you start focusing on the good things in your life and expressing thankfulness for that, your life begins to flow with optimism. Your optimistic approach brings change into your response to the challenges.

Better Physical and Mental Health

Our mind and body are inseparable. Whatever good happens to the mind affects the body. Practicing gratitude makes the mind happier and calm. A peaceful mind makes the body more energetic. This positive environment nourishes every cell of your body. The individuals who express gratitude also demonstrate better sleep, fewer health care visits, and better nutrition. You enjoy physical health at its best.

Increased Self Esteem

Knowing that you possess all the good things you need to have for living happy life boosts your self-esteem. You start feeling better for yourself. It creates confidence in you. You start finding possibilities everywhere. You love yourself. You feel blessed.

The real happiness lies in knowing that you already have everything you need to spend life satisfactorily. Gratitude develops your self-awareness and teaches you how to value your own self as well as the people and things you have in your life.

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.”

-Ralph Waldo Emerson

How To Be More Grateful

Remember The Hard Times

You face a lot of difficulties in your life. When tough times get over you forget everything and everyone who helped you in hard times. You take for granted your own capabilities, people, and things in your life when life runs smoothly. Remembering those hard days will remind you of the importance of every hand extended to you to come out of the ditch of suffering and pain. When you realize the difference between where were you in the past and where are you in the present, your mind can easily get connect with the emotion of gratitude.

Count The Strengths

Instead of focusing on the weaknesses, focus on the strengths. You have a lot of physical, mental, and emotional strengths. Understand the importance of each strength and realize how these good things have made your life happy and satisfied. How you have defeated the challenges using your strengths.

Realize The Interdependency

You alone can’t live. You always need other people to lead your life. You are always depending on others to get so many essential things to spend life happily. Whoever and whatever you are, you are incomplete without the people and things around you. Your family, friends, relatives, and society make your life meaningful. Nature is there to nurture you. This principle of interdependency makes you realize what is the need of being grateful for everything you have and get your life.

Practice the Gratitude in Daily Life

You can practice gratitude with gratitude meditation and gratitude self-affirmation. While meditating think about the positive things in your life and express your gratitude deeply. Visualize every person helping you and express gratefulness towards them. Make a list of all good things and give yourself suggestions that how grateful you are towards them.

Dear friends, make this gratitude ritual your habit. Let your subconscious flow unintentionally. You really have so much to be grateful for. You just need to know it. This is the sure way of attracting abundance in life. Gratitude is vibration energy that can change your life.

“You have got a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘THANK YOU’?”

AUTHOR