Gratitude

In my recent post on meditation I spoke about the moment that I realised it was up to me to change my mindset if I wanted to be healthier. Another lightbulb moment was when I learnt about the power of gratitude.

I thought I was quite a grateful person. When I went on the dream holiday, a new phone, or had a great time with friends I’d feel grateful. But what happened after that? Its so easy, and I think natural in society, to move straight onto the next want. We start counting down to the next holiday, want the latest tech, or plan the next meet-up. Its built into us to want the next thing, because that’s what society’s function depends on. This habit means it’s easy to forget to be grateful for the things and experiences we already have, whether it be a possession, health, experience or rights; to forget that its actually fucking amazing that everything aligned so that we could have these things.

My argument isn’t to stop wanting anything, to ignore our difficulties, or to stop trying to achieve our goals. My argument is that is that its easy to dwell on thinking that we don’t have everything, creating negative thoughts and going about our days through a negative lens. If we thought about how much we did have, our days would be transformed.

An exercise that I have used in the past to help bring gratitude into my daily life is to list things that I am grateful for, and why. I know January is going to be a tough month as work will be hectic and I won’t have much time to recharge and get outside, so I’m going to bring a gratitude practice back into my life for the rest of December and January to remind myself how amazing life is.

If you want to end the year feeling extra grateful and do this too, the practice is really simple. I write ten things that I am grateful for everyday and re-read aloud what I wrote. Rereading aloud allows my brain to process how amazing it all is. I write in the format “I am grateful for…because…” as writing out the sentence each time gives my brain more time to process my gratitude. And if ten seems like a lot, just trust me, thinking of this many reasons to be grateful really makes you think of all the things you take for granted. Here’s some for today…

Thank you for the clean drinking water that runs to my home because I don’t have to leave my house to collect water each day, and I don’t have to worry about how safe it is.

I don’t even have to go downstairs as water runs to the kitchen and bathroom. And how great that it comes out hot just by turning the tap.

I’m so grateful to have access to the internet almost anywhere because its so convenient.

Dial-up internet at a desktop computer that took minutes to just load one page is something most of us can remember, yet I get annoyed when I have slow 3G on my phone and my Instagram feed won’t load instantly.

Thank you for all the intricate ways my body works because it allows me to experience life. 

I have eyes that can see, I can speak and communicate with others, I have legs that walk and run. My body does so much, but I often forget this and get hung up on how my body looks rather than focusing on how much it does for me. Its not until I get ill and the only thing I want is to be healthy again that I remember to be grateful.

I’ve taken this exercise from ‘The Magic’ by Rhonda Byrne. She also talks about gratitude in relation to the Law of Attraction which is waaayyy too much for one post, but if you want some more context to the exercise or to know about the Law of Attraction I’d recommend giving it a read!