You might have heard about how practicing gratitude is really good for you. Research
has shown that people who count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed. The
reason why that happens is because gratitude helps produce better mental health by redirecting
one’s attention away from their negative feelings like envy. Aside from improving your
mental health, gratitude can also improve your physical health. There seems to be no
downside to practicing gratitude so it seems like something everyone should do but not
everyone does it. This video will explore why people find it hard to practice gratitude
and some ways to practice gratitude to get it’s benefits.
There are 2 main reasons as to why people find it hard to practice gratitude. The first
reason is that it’s difficult to acknowledge what we have. Most of us live fast paced lives
and have a day to day life that feels the same everyday. When your life is like that,
it becomes hard to pay attention and notice all the good things you have. It’s really
hard to recognize and have feelings for the things you have when you are moving onto one
thing after another since your life is fast paced. The second reason is that gratitude
can remind you of what you lacked in the past. Psychology tells us that we often do things
to avoid feeling pain, especially childhood pains. For example, someone who had a terrible
experience with gym class early on might go workout often to avoid the pain of being terrible
at physical activities. When you express gratitude for an experience that is so different from
what you are used to, it can reawaken feelings of sadness. You end up thinking about what
you lacked in the past and how you are unworthy of all the happiness you are experiencing
right now. This might have happened to you in the past when you tried practicing gratitude
and you avoid gratitude in the present to avoid those undesirable feelings.
To deal with these 2 issues, you have to deal with your critical inner voice. There’s
this voice that’s always telling you that you are not good enough or you don’t deserve
that. If you can quiet that inner demon that turns you against yourself then you can practice
gratitude a lot easier. The way you should deal with that voice is by redirecting your
focus to self affirmations. If that voice is telling you that you are not good enough
then you should redirect your focus onto your strengths or evidence that goes against what
that voice is telling you. That was a really short and simple explanation so if you have
issues with your critical inner voice, check out some other videos about that topic. Now
that you know how to deal with that voice, here are some ways you can practice gratitude.
1. Keep a gratitude journal. This is the most common way people practice gratitude and it
has been shown to be quite effective. Research shows that writing a gratitude journal for
only two consecutive weeks has lasting positive effects sustained for up to six months. The
idea behind the gratitude journal is to write down at least 3 things you are grateful for
that day. It can be anything from experiences to objects. If you want to go further, you
can elaborate on one of the things you are grateful for. Write down why you are grateful
for that experience or thing. Ideally, you want to write your gratitude journal at night
but if you also want to do it in the morning, then you should write down things you are
grateful for each morning. 2. Do some gratitude meditation. There are
many different types of meditation and when most people think of meditation, they mostly
think of mindfulness meditation. Gratitude meditation is a bit different than mindfulness
meditation. Mindfulness meditation is about letting your thoughts pass but in gratitude
meditation, we want to think about certain things. Gratitude meditation takes 2 to 5
minutes and it can fit into the busiest of schedules. In order to maximize the effects,
you should practice it daily. So to do gratitude meditation you first get into a comfortable
seated position. You then relax with your eyes closed and feel grounded. Take a few
breaths to relax the mind and body and then think about what you are most grateful for.
Take the first thought that comes to mind and then build upon that thought. You can
then expand the thought even more by making it into a story. You finally keep that experience
in your mind a bit longer than usual to feel more positive. And that’s how you do gratitude
meditation. It’s pretty simple but it will make you feel more positive.
3. Act more grateful. Engaging in small acts of kindness can help you practice gratitude
during your day. Simple things like thanking someone for doing something helps you get
the benefits of practicing gratitude. When you are acting more grateful, you want to
be in the present moment and absorb everything that occurs. Notice the warm responses you
might receive and the emotions of the people around you. When you reciprocate with gratitude,
everyone feels better. Practicing gratitude will transform your life
in a positive way. You are retraining your brain to see the wonders and possibilities
that lie ahead each day. You will be a lot happier by practicing gratitude.
Do you journal? Leave a comment below and check out the video shown on the end screen
if you want to learn about how to declutter your mind and stop overthinking.