The Importance of Gratitude

“The struggle ends when gratitude begins.”

– Neale Donald Walsch

When I was younger, I tended to view life with a “glass half empty” attitude.? Toss anxiety on top of that viewpoint and you can imagine my inner critic had a few things to say about that!??

• “Of course this is happening to me - I have the worst luck.”?
• “I’ll always be alone … I’ll never find someone.”?
• “I’ll never achieve that level of success … I’m not enough.”?
• “Why do bad things always happen to me?”??

And on and on… Can you relate???

It’s a tough way to live. It feels like you are constantly swimming upstream as the world continues to prove that your inner critic is correct.??

But what if I told you that you could change all that with one simple shift that you can start doing right away?? You can!? With the power of gratitude. Today I’m sharing how a gratitude practice can begin to shift your own negativity bias so you can reduce your anxiety, improve social connections and feel happier in life.???

The Negative Bias

Have you ever wondered why we don’t practice gratitude more often or why it’s really hard to make the shift toward appreciation and gratitude???

Our negativity bias is hard-wired because the nature of the ego is to be selfish.? Your ego is all about self-preservation and keeping things exactly as they are or the way you want them to be.? When things don’t go as planned, the ego feels threatened and the mind kicks in to solve the problem.? It does this by creating order through the stories we tell ourselves - who we are, what matters most, what we can accomplish in this world and what we’re all about.? These stories are formed during your childhood and shape the person you are today.

Here’s an example - Let’s say little Johnny comes home from school after getting a B+ on his history exam. He’s pretty excited because history has been a tough subject for him and he can’t wait to share the news with his father.? When he shows his dad? the grade, dad responds with, “Why didn’t you get an A?”? Pretty quickly Johnny feels terrible that he’s disappointed his father.? At that moment Johnny’s ego kicks in and says “I don’t ever want to feel that way again” and creates a story that he has to do better, always.? Before too long, Johnny becomes a perfectionist well into his adult life because he fears disappointing himself and others.?????

Your brain is constantly using these stories and scanning for all the ways things could go wrong because it believes it can control the situation and stay alive.? These hard-wired patterns are difficult to change, but the good news is that we can learn to train the brain to look for the good in the world instead of just the bad.? And shifting this perspective will bring you a sense of ease and connectedness.??

The Power of Gratitude

There is something very interesting about what happens when you concentrate and focus on gratitude. In 2015, a study was done that showed how feeling gratitude and appreciation can impact your life.??

1. It nurtures and fortifies your sense of connections
2. It stimulates your moral cognition and value judgment
3. It helps you be more resourceful
4. It creates a very powerful shift within your own thought processes

In fact, when you practice gratitude, studies have shown that although it doesn’t happen overnight, the neural pathways of your brain actually change to start looking for the good instead of constantly scanning for the bad.? Studies show that there is an increased activity in parts of the brain related to empathy and perspective-taking.

For example, instead of walking into a room and seeing a dusty shelf or a cluttered desk, you might notice the sunlight streaming in from the window or your favorite painting above your desk.??

A gratitude practice can be incredibly impactful not only in our own life but in our environment as well because our energy follows our awareness - or what you focus on will move your energy in that direction.? If you begin to train yourself to look for the good around you, your energy will shift that way as well.? You will start to show up in the world with more gratitude and love for yourself and others, and that will feed others to do the same.? It simply takes one small act of kindness and gratitude to create a greater sense of connectedness and cultivate a shift that could open a ton of possibilities.??

And the best part?? You have everything you need right now to start finding inner peace and genuine happiness.??

Enjoy this content? Check out my blog.? https://micheleklyman.com/blog