Practice Gratitude — Everyday

Gratitude is such a powerful emotion, an emotion that shouldn’t be taken lightly.

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is moving from counting your burdens to counting your blessings.

Gratitude can be seen as three things depending on the context and how you perceive it. It can be seen as an affective trait, a mood or an emotion but however you perceive it, we all have to practice it from time to time and let me explain why?

Starting your day with an attitude of gratitude can increase your self-esteem and provide a boost of confidence. Being constantly grateful makes us feel good and gives us energy to tackle the day with optimism, tenacity and patience.

Gratitude makes us appreciate the value of something, and when we appreciate the value of something, we extract more benefits from it; we’re less likely to take it for granted!

Gratitude allows us to participate more positively in life. Have you ever just paused in the moment to take in the beauty of something or someone? Often I would find myself at a particular place, with friends and family or sometimes even just alone and soaking in the beauty of life or that single moment. I’m sure lots of you have come across these moments, like taking a walk down to the beach at sunset and just watching the sun go down, or sitting on the grass at a day festival and watching people around you dancing, laughing and enjoying the good sounds of music, or walking in a park or by a lake and seeing a mother duck with her ducklings waddling along or it could be watching your child take his or her first step. These moments in life are what gives us happiness, fills our tanks, and makes us strive to be better and do better.

But how do we practice gratitude and what are some of the things we can do?

• Keep a gratitude journal and add to it everyday.
• Make someone’s day and tell them how much you love them and how much you appreciate them.
• Notice your surroundings and the beauty in nature each day. “I don’t know about you but there is just something about being in nature that can reset our thoughts.”
• Do something for others, volunteer or include an act of kindness in your life each day.
• Meditate or live mindfully, not worrying about the past or the future.
• Be thankful when you learn something new.
• Celebrate those small daily wins.
• Practice gratitude at the same time every day to make it a habit.
• Focus on your strengths
• Share the benefits of gratitude with family and friends.

It is easy to be grateful in the good times but how do we manage to be grateful in the bad times?

A grateful attitude is always essential. In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize us. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal us and in the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope to us.

We have all been in a dark place sometimes longer than we should have been and the last thing we want to do or think about is being grateful and counting our blessings. When I find myself in these situations of tough times and running down a dark rabbit hole there is this saying that goes “If you have change in your pocket, your are 70% richer than most of the people on our planet” just saying something as small as this helps me paint a picture in my mind that I could be in a much worse off situation which forces me to switch my mind from a negative state into a state of gratitude and thankfulness and this is the mental shift and pivot that we need to manage gratitude during bad times.

What’s that one source of truth or mantra you can use to help you do that mental switch when you find yourself in that negative space or dark place?

P.S — If you want a further read on Gratitude, here is a great book by Robert A. Emmons called Gratitude Works! : A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity. A purposeful guide for cultivating gratitude as a way of life.

Keep learning, keep growing and keep going!

With optimism & creativity, Jimbo

Hint — the cage is not locked, feel free to connect with me or visit jamiewindell.com :)