JKLTip There are many gratitude hacks, but an easy place to start is a journal. Each night and morning, write one thing you are grateful for.
No matter where life takes us we can wake up grateful and that’s where it all starts. Because, everything we gain or lose in a day become circumstances that exist above and beyond what we are grateful for. Gratitude has nothing to do with how much we have, our desires, or how much we’ve lost. I have met incredible children who suffer, or have suffered from terrible experiences who are tremendously grateful. I’ve met people who on the surface have the “perfect life” and they don’t appreciate any of it. It isn’t complex, gratitude is being thankful to this universe for whatever we do have.
Gratitude is not about playing small, which is often a misconception. We can set astronomical goals, but whether they work out or not we remain appreciative. Perhaps the sneakiest benefit of gratitude is that it keeps us from working too hard. Perfectionists and high achievers sacrifice friends and family when we get lost in work. Did you know, one of the number one regrets of the dying is that they didn’t focus enough on things that mattered most? Typically these are relationships and activities that are not good for our “top line growth”. With gratitude we can rest easy and appreciate the time spent on them.
When we struggle with gratitude, it can be easy to develop a “poor me” attitude. If we want to get a blog post up, but the internet cuts out, how do we react? If we are really excited about a meeting with someone and they keep cancelling, do we move on? Injury, sickness can strike at any moment, broken bones and cancer do not discriminate what door they knock on. They just come crashing through. Weak, strong, young, or old, they just arrive, as a result we all have opportunity to react to these life moments with gratitude.
Gratitude is like that first air when we come up from water because we feel like we are drowning without it. In other words, we see more of our world in colour, tension leaves our shoulders and jaw, we live with gratitude we feel ok taking our time to enjoy the present moment. Gratitude increases self esteem, improves relationships and makes us as resilient as possible. When we live with gratitude we feel more alive since we genuinely appreciate that last breath might be our last breath.
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** If you want to see where these values posts first started check out
Quick Interruption – Values
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