Gratitude is having a posture of thankfulness and always being ready to show appreciation. Its more than just being thankful. You can be thankful for a moment, but when you express gratitude it something that sticks with you. The way you walk, smile and love for the rest of the day changes.
If you want to bring more joy to your life, gratitude is always the way to go but too many of us are focused on more. You want more money, more space, more opportunity but you never take any time to appreciate all you already have.
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” —Oprah Winfrey
How Gratitude is Helpful?
Gratitude changes your heart posture immediately. No matter how much you have, its always possible to want more. You can buy your dream house and car, and as soon as you get them, find something else you want.
As long as there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be, there will be some unhappiness. There is no joy in knowing that you're not where you want to be in life.
Gratitude is helpful because it brings an appreciation for where you are. No matter how hard life is, gratitude makes you focus on what you have and what is in front of you right now. Instead of always looking beyond, you look around and search for the beauty in your current life.
Some people wake up every day miserable and sad about their lives. They could change all of this in a moment by looking for all they have been blessed with. Gratitude has the power to change an entire outlook in minutes.
9 Reasons You Need More Gratitude
You need more gratitude in your life. It does not matter your race, class, gender or nationality. Everyone can learn from the power of gratitude.
1. You Have a Lot That You Don't Notice
The biggest thing that gratitude will force you to do is appreciate what you already have. Even if you don't have much, everyone has something. It's not just about money, and there are plenty of people with no happiness. They are always searching for more in hope that it fills them.
Gratitude will help you to look deep into what blessing you have in life. Here are some great places to start.
- Family
- Life
- Health
- An Income
- Great friends
2. Challenges Present Opportunities
When you express gratitude, it will help you see the positive side of your life challenges. Instead of seeing roadblocks and a hindrance, you will be able to see that they may help you in the long run.
A roadblock can force you to learn new skills, get help from others, or even persist longer until you win. Imagine being able to thank your problems instead of stressing over them.
3. The Moment is Precious
When you are stressed or worried, it's often due to the future or the past. True joy comes from living in the moment. Gratitude helps you to get out of the future and get into what is.
When you focus on what is, you can see life for what you have and not what you're still missing. You can see that in the current moment, you don't have to need it.
4. There is Power in Writing
Many people decide to keep gratitude journals where they record things that they appreciate in one space. There is power in writing things down, it makes them feel more real. Writing your gratitude for the day also gives you things to reflect back on when you have some of your tougher days.
5. You Have So Much to Give
You may feel like you need help or that you don't have enough or know enough to help others. When you regularly express gratitude in your life, you see that you have so much to offer others. You have lived a lot of life and have been through many different situations that you survived.
Gratitude empowers you to be a lot more than you currently are. No more sitting back and waiting for others to take action. You will begin to realize that you have everything you need to succeed in a big way.
6. Address Your Feelings
You have a lot of feelings that you store up inside that don't get a chance to be expressed. Some people store up the things that they love about their life. They feel like it will make them content or not as hungry. Others feel like its not being humble to talk about all that you have. Either way, these feelings need to be expressed.
7. Get Back to Family
Gratitude will make you want to spend more time with your family and loved ones. If you have lost someone close, you will be able to be thankful for the time you had with them. It will also remind you that life is short and you need to make the most of your time with family.
8. There is Joy to Be Had
Gratitude will help you to see that in every moment of your life, there is joy to be had if you choose. You look at your life and search for joy and peace. But you can also choose to focus on the negativity in your life. You have to recognize that this is a choice. When you develop the habit of gratitude, you lock yourself into focusing on the positive.
9. Abundance Goes Where It's Appreciated
People who focus on what they have tended to get more. Abundance always goes where it will be loved and cared for. If you can't appreciate $1, you will not get $2. The more you can be faithful with the small things, the better you will handle a lot.
Too many people want to have a lot, but they only focus on lack. They wake up and see what they don't have instead of being amazed and thankful at all they do have.
The Darkside of Gratitdue
Gratitude comes with a lot of positive, but there is also a dark side that you need to be aware of. I don't bring these up to deter you from it altogether. The goal is to make sure you don't take it too far and fall into these three traps.
1. Self Importance
Sometimes when people express gratitude, it's done in a way that focuses on the status and how big of a deal you are. This is not a healthy way to express gratitude regularly because there is much more to life than just you.
As mentioned above, gratitude can be used to start giving more to others. When you realize what you have, your response should help and bless others and not just to build your name up.
2. Arrogance
Gratitude can make you arrogant if not done right. You can lose your empathy for others who struggle. You may be able to see the positive in your life, but don't look down on others who are not there yet.
You can look at what you have and believe that it will be easy to get so much more because you are so good at what you do. Part of gratitude is realizing how much others have helped you and given you chances in life.
3. Entitlement
Entitlement can begin to creep in with gratitude when you assume that automatically more will be given because you have. It does not work that way, and that is not living in the moment. If you stay in the moment, you appreciate what you have now. True gratitude does not project what it wants into the future.
How to Get Started With Gratitude Today
Download Habit Stacker today so you can track your daily habits. Habit Stacker lets you track any habit on a daily basis and get stats on how you're doing. Once you begin to use the app, start tracking your habit of gratitude. Every day you want to take time out of your day to be thankful.
You want to build this into a daily habit so that you do it regardless of how you feel. You should not only do it when you feel good or when you feel like you're winning at life. Habits will help you to get things done even when you don't feel like doing it.