Gratitude Will Change Your Life
"Gratitude also opens your eyes to the limitless potential of the universe, while dissatisfaction closes your eyes to it." Stephen Richards
Developing a grateful mindset can significantly increase our positive feelings and appreciation for everything in our lives. With consistent gratitude practice, we can improve our mindset and self-confidence. When we focus on being thankful and thinking positively, we can experience more significant growth, happiness, positivity, and joy while experiencing less stress, overwhelm, and negativity.
When we appreciate what we have, we improve our perspective on where we are right now and where we're going. Gratitude transforms a scarcity mindset into one of abundance. An abundance mindset helps us to focus on the limitless opportunities we have by concentrating on the things we have.
Fostering a gratitude mindset will create substantial benefits when built into a daily practice. A gratitude approach helps us feel happier and more optimistic about life while decreasing feelings of worry, stress, and frustration. It's easier than most people think to build daily habits that support a practice of appreciating what we have.
Let's explore six benefits of creating a grateful mindset and some actions we can take to maintain our practice all year.
Less immediately turns into more. Gratitude is far more than a passing "thank you." It's a deep appreciation for the blessings we have been given and a recognition that nothing in life is guaranteed.
When we pay attention to positive things in our lives, we're often surprised to discover how much we have to be thankful for. Noting the good things around us helps to build an abundance mindset. When we call attention and recognize all the gifts we have been given, like, food, water, shelter, friends, family, the ability to create, and the chance to make a living, we can see our life get fuller and more abundant.
When we feel empty, all we have to do is remember our blessings, and it fills back up instantly. The mind is powerful and can create new ways to shift our perspective.
Our perspective changes. For most of us, our lives are filled with endless sunsets on the beach and inspiring conversations. There are a lot of obstacles and struggles on our journey. That stress and worry can quickly shift our focus from all we have going for us onto our insecurities, doubts, and failures. What's the point of achieving our goals if the journey makes us miserable? Luckily, by practicing gratitude, we can change our whole outlook.
By recognizing our unique and incredible position, we can pause and be thankful. This simple habit will shift our mindset. When we name the things we are grateful for, we transform from a pessimistic mental state to a "lucky to be here" mindset. As a result, small successes become celebrations. Losses become lessons. Obstacles become opportunities. All thanks to a change of perspective.
Our relationships get better. It shows when we are genuinely grateful to have someone in our lives. We are kinder and pay them more attention. We truly listen and want to help. And we want to show them we are worthy of their trust.
Practicing gratitude for the people in our lives deepens existing relationships and attracts new people into our lives. This positive energy is contagious and draws others towards us because we all want to be appreciated.
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Motivation skyrockets. It's easy to forget that tomorrow is not guaranteed. When we take the time to recognize how much we have been given, we realize that we could lose it at any moment. It's vital for us to discover a way to take advantage of our blessings while we have them.
That may sound morose, but the point of this practice is not to discourage us. The point is to change our perspective. So instead of getting depressed by the impermanence of life, let's use it as inspiration. Let it motivate us to experience every day. Let's use it to jumpstart our day each morning so we can face the hard things ahead with hope and optimism
It opens the door to positivity. Our minds are incredibly powerful and can shape our reality. By having a negative outlook, we are more likely to look for signs that others share our negative view. Unknowingly, we can even interpret neutral behavior as negative to confirm our perspective.
This widespread phenomenon is called a negative confirmation bias. When we allow predetermined (usually inaccurate) thoughts to run through our minds, it creates a filter that only allows us to experience life through that negative and unhelpful lens. According to research, we have approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. As much as 98% of those thoughts are identical to those we had the day before. What would our world be like if we could shift just ten percent of our thoughts?
Practicing gratitude is a reliable way to change our negative to a positive outlook. When we view life through a positive lens, we can absolutely shift our mindset.
Say goodbye to stress. Gratitude compels us to take an inventory of where we are in life. When we see how much there is to be thankful for, our lives don't seem so bleak, and our problems are not so looming. This practice can be a significant relief.
With gratitude as our secret weapon, we are capable of taking action. If we try something and fail, that's okay. Life is still good. Just look at all the blessings we have. Without this cloud of stress constantly floating above our heads, we can better relationships and create superior work, all because we can think more clearly.
When we embrace a grateful mindset, there are fewer negative thoughts and more space for innovation and new ideas. We can capture better ideas, focus more intently on the task at hand, and enjoy increased energy to execute our ideas.