Today’s blog post I wanted to focus on gratitude. It is a word that I feel at times is thrown around in not only the wellness community but in life as well. When I started my mindfulness practice I wanted to understand the power behind gratitude. After a look stem of research I found that gratitude only gives and never takes.
Little Gifts All Around
When you look up what gratitude means the definition is pretty clear, “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” If you take that little definition and apply it to life there is an immense amount of appreciation for the little things that will build up over time. Because there is so much appreciation in return you create a quality of life that is fully content. Now I know contentment might sound like an “okay” word but contentment means happiness and satisfaction.
Gratitude For You
Taking that same definition of gratitude and turning it inwards you get an immense amount of appreciation, thankfulness, and kindness towards yourself. When we show ourselves gratitude there is a chain reaction of positive self talk that occurs. I want to be clear here, positive self talk is not selfish because you are not focusing on anyone else but you. You are taking an intentional moment to be grateful for all you have & all that you are. Coming from this state of a positive mindset this only adds to the world.
It Only Adds To The World
I wanted to share a few of the benefits of practicing gratitude on a daily basis, because you can imagine a world in which there are millions of happy humans whom are appreciative, happy, contentment, thankful, and satisfied. There would be no bullying, no war, less pain & hurt.
“Gratitude seems to reduce depression symptoms — people with a grateful mindset report higher satisfaction with life, strong social relationships and more self-esteem than those who don’t practice gratitude. But it’s also possible that depressed people are less likely to practice gratitude. – UCLA study March 2023″
Why is gratitude so powerful?
It is making the conscious decision to focus on what you have rather than what you lack. If you are wanting to try out a little gratitude practice here are a few ways to try it out.
- Write down 5 things you are grateful for everyday
- Do a gratitude guided meditation
- Tell someone you are grateful for them
- Show yourself a little gratitude everyday
Got questions! Don’t hesitate to reach out, I would love to connect! Wanting to explore more about mindfulness, pop over here to look around!
Be the first to comment