How Gratitude Can Change Your Life?

Today while I was returning back from my office, I crossed through a temple. I saw many beggars sitting on roadside, near the temple. They all were having very poor clothing and seems they have not taken bath since long. Couple of them were handicap; and having physical challenges must have forced them to live such life. They were staring in face of devotees for help, who visited for pray to god. I stopped there and expressed gratitude to god for all the prosperity and wealth he has given to me. God has been gracious enough to give me knowledge and wisdom to live my life with respect and dignity.

Gratitude meaning

Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is the quality of being thankful; it’s readiness to show appreciation for kindness and graciousness. The word gratitude is derived from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness (depending on the context). Gratitude is what makes the glass half full. It reminds you that you have enough and that you are enough.

Gratitude is a force that attracts abundance, positivity, and joy into our lives. When we focus on the good and express appreciation for what we have, we naturally open ourselves for more positive experiences.

Gratitude – a way of life

Gratitude must become a way of life, must impregnate your cells and subconscious mind. You must practice and train your mind to consciously think and say ‘Thank You’. More conscious or deliberate thanks you give more feeling of gratefulness will generated within you. More feeling of gratefulness within you will result in more prosperity, satisfaction and peace of mind. The level of thankfulness you feel (and the level of gratitude you express to others) will be equal to the level of internal peace and happiness you feel.

Benefits of practicing Gratitude

There are endless science backed benefits of practicing gratitude. People who regularly practice gratitude in day to day life by sparing time to notice and reflect upon the things they’re grateful for experience following benefits

• better mental health
• feel more alive and spiritual
• sleep well
• makes you happier
• makes people like you
• cultivates a Growth Mindset
• boosts emotional health
• makes you minimalist
• enhances empathy
• reduces aggression
• more positive emotions
• improves self-esteem
• increased well being
• greater life satisfaction
• build better relations
• fosters resilience
• express more kindness and compassion
• stronger immune systems

How to practice gratitude?

Cultivate the attitude of gratitude. Start paying attention to your own attitude and begin practice gratitude. While practice gratitude initially tune your mind to gratitude for what you have at present and had in the past.

Recognizing the things you have in life, no matter how small they are, say thanks for that.

It may be related to Nature, plants, animals, people, food, God and Guru, Universe and earth, health and fitness, work, business, career, financial and social status, relationships, passion, happiness, love, life, home, material goods, education, knowledge ,skills, wisdom, competencies, friends and technology etc.

Start the day with Gratitude

Start every morning with deliberate thinking and thanks giving to god for that you are alive. In the morning, ‘Count your blessings’. Write down anywhere. List 5 blessings you are grateful for. Degree of feeling is important. You may keep a diary for this; I personally use blank pluck cards and keep it on my table. Whenever I am free on weekends, I ensure to go through these pluck cards again.

Take the time to give a quick “thanks” and a smile to anybody that brightens your day, no matter how big or small the gesture is.

Take a Savoring Walk

Go for a  20-minute walk and make a special effort to appreciate your surroundings. You can do this by focusing on each of your senses, one at a time. Spend a minute just listening, a minute looking at your surroundings, and so on. During walk, observe the sights, sounds, and sensations you encounter—freshly cut grass, an epic skyscraper, a stranger’s smile,a cool breeze on your skin or the clouds in the sky. Each time you notice something positive, take the time to absorb it and think about why you enjoy it. On your subsequent Savoring Walks, strike out in different directions to seek new things to admire.

Gratitude Journal 

Perhaps the most popular practice is to keep and maintain a “gratitude journal”. Thankfulness is a catalyst for peace of mind, satisfaction and success in life. Make it a habit that whenever your day is over, you sit and note down in gratitude journal all the things which happened good on that particular day. You should be thankful for all those moments, incidents, relations, things and possessions. Regularly writing brief reflections on moments for which you’re thankful can significantly increase well-being and life satisfaction. Making a list of such small-small things for which you are thankful will make you a altogether different person. You will start noticing a change within you every day.

“If you are not grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you will be happy with more?” ~ Invajy (Gratitude Quote)

Mental Subtraction of Positive Events

Try subtraction, not just addition. Consider what your life would be like without certain people or things, rather than just tallying up all the good stuff. Appreciate what you have by imagining life without it.  Try not to take that good fortune for granted.

Give It Up

Abstaining from a pleasure for some time can make it all the much sweeter later. To take advantage of this effect, try the Give It Up practice. Give Up few things which you have and like. Savor something more by taking a break from them.

Be thankful for all near misses in life

In our organization; to improve the safety standards we encourage reporting near misses. Near miss is a narrowly avoided accident or injury. We call it in Hindi “Bal Bal Bachna”. By reporting near misses we avoid serious injury or fatality. Past studies manifest that on every 1000 near misses there is one serious injury or fatality. One must be thankful for all such near misses in life. There are several occasions in life, when we just get escaped from trapping in problematic situations. Be thankful for all such happenings in life. It may be as small as – you avoided a car accident or your important medical report has given you all clear.

Gratitude Letter

The roots of gratitude lie in the soil of appreciation. Call to mind someone who did something for you for which you are extremely grateful but to whom you never expressed your deep gratitude. Write a gratitude letter expressing thanks, including specific examples and details. Write down how thankful are you for what the person did, why you are grateful to him/her, and how his/her behavior affected your life. It’s up to you if you’d like to share the letter or not. I would suggest you to diliver it to the person.

Be grateful for negative parts of life

You must be thankful to the negative parts of life. Whatever you are right now is due to learning from those negative events, incidents, situations or moments in life. If those were not the part of your life, you could not have made changes and improve your personality and reach the success milestone of today. Shift your spotlight from black dots of life and look those negative parts from different perspectives. Notice what brighter effects those negative events has brought in your life and be thankful for the same.

Make Gratitude a habit

Think of gratitude as an emotional muscle that will grow and strengthen with intentional use. When you express your gratitude, it grows. If you want to experience a greater sense of thankfulness in your life, say “Thank you!” more often. It’s a small thing, but people who consistently express gratitude develop a higher level of awareness for all the things in their lives they have to be grateful for. There is 21 days rule of developing habit. If you practice anything deliberately, after 21 days it becomes a habit.

Everyday is Thanksgiving Day

In USA, they have special Thanksgiving Day. It’s a designated day to be thankful. Celebrating Thanksgiving is very important event in their life. Giving thanks helps them to recognize, appreciate, and be grateful for the good things in their lives. I believe why only one designated day for gratitude. We should live like every day is a Thanksgiving Day.

What do you think? When will you start practicing gratitude? Next month or next week? Or will just start by saying thanks in the comment box of this post?

Start it right now. You may notice, over time, a real change in the whole trajectory of your life. Please also share your comments below about what you’re grateful for and how gratitude has blessed your life.