Being grateful is one of the most powerful feelings you can embody if you wish to live a truly beautiful life. From a simple ‘thank you’ to a heartfelt hug, there are so many ways to express and make gratitude a daily part of your routine. It’s not cheesy, there is real power in expressing your thankfulness to all of those around you.
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So much has been written about being grateful that it can sound a little trite. Magazines and books abound on the law of attraction, talking about the power of having an attitude of gratitude. However, it is the modern way to express gratitude as a means to an end. This isn’t necessarily the best way to approach thankfulness.
Gratitude happens simply by being thankful for what you currently have. You no longer see the lack in your life or the many things that you have yet to achieve. You simply see all the wonderful things as they currently are.
In this way there is no gap between yourself and greatness, there is simply the understanding that you are on a journey and the best way to get to where you are is to be gentle on yourself.
Gratitude is the key to unlocking your happiness and taking yourself on the journey to where you need to be. Here are 7 more simple ways that gratitude can completely transform your life…
1. Encourages an appreciative mindset
Gratitude is powerful because it allows you to see what you already have. By practicing gratitude on a daily basis, you develop a sense of appreciation for everything you currently have going on for you.
Sometimes it’s too easy to take the everyday things for granted, or fail to see all of the wonderful things that have brought you to be who you are today. Gratitude practice encourages appreciation for exactly how things are.
2. Builds better health
Studies show that people who keep a gratitude journal are happier on average. Grateful participants in one study reported fewer health problems such as headaches, gastrointestinal problems, respiratory infections and sleep disturbances.
Another study showed participants reported fewer physical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, stomach aches and runny noses. While there is no definitive link between the two, it does suggest that gratitude can help you to foster a more positive attitude towards your health.
Women who kept a gratitude journal for two weeks were also found to have lower blood pressure than those writing about daily events. Suggesting that gratitude may have a beneficial effect on heart health.
3. Fosters stronger relationships
Being grateful may allow you to improve the emotional and mental connection with others in your life. Gratitude can initiate care and intimacy with a partner, by allowing us to open up our heart and express our true feelings to another.
Strong relationships are built upon the foundation of harmony and thankfulness for having a kindred spirit in our life – whether it be as a friend or lover. When you are grateful for your partner or friendship circle you take them as they are.
Where there is acceptance there is understanding and improved connection. So you are less likely to feel dissatisfied and more likely to see the many positive qualities in someone.
4. May enhance your career prospects
Gratitude can increase your job opportunities for success. Not only will bring truly thankful for your job change your attitude away from despair, it will also enhance the prospects of new contacts, people or events coming into your life who can provide guidance about how to move your career forward.
Gratitude may also help you to build resilience when career prospects do not go your way. Sometimes it is simply about being thankful for not receiving a job opportunity too. As it gives clarity that it wasn’t for you – and it can help to ground and re-direct you in the direction that you need to go.
5. Keeps you grounded in the present moment
The power of gratitude is in how it helps to keep you focussed within the present moment. By being grateful for all of the things you currently have going on in your life, you can be happy with what you have right now. The mistake is in thinking that if you do x,y,z activities or achievements you will finally reach happiness.
Yet happiness comes from being happy right now, in this very moment. Only when you are happy can you attract everything wonderful – where abundance, joy and the beautiful things in life simply flow effortlessly to you. Gratitude makes you happy by default, for everything you have right now.
6. Better able to deal with adverse situations
Being grateful can help you to power through even the most challenging times in life. By saying a prayer or counting your blessings, you can choose to see the positive side and move out of any dilemma or difficult event that may come your way. The power of gratitude is that in counting the many small blessings, you move away from limited or negative thinking and move into being able to see a positive outcome to a situation.
7. May support you in reaching your goals
Gratitude can also make you more resilient. You will count your rejections in equal measure as you count your blessings. What is key to this is that you will be able to move forward and out of any negative situation with ease. You will be as thankful to the negative as you are to the positive, as it helps you to become who you truly are. Without gratitude, you may feel like giving up on working towards your goals. Thankfulness keeps you rooted in the present moment and supported in the reassurance that everything is working out for your Greatest Good.
Which elements of gratitude have you noticed having a positive effect in your life? Do you have a consistent gratitude practice that you follow? Let us know the impact that gratitude has had in your life, we love to hear your stories.
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