Gratitude is a hot topic these days. Most of us are probably aware of the power gratitude has to lift our spirits and keep us feeling positive on a blue day.
The thing is it’s so easy to take things for granted in life, especially when you’re feeling good.
The problem occurs when you start feeling anxious or concerned about things in your life.
In the darker moments, it can be harder to shift your thought process towards feeling grateful.
That’s why you need to make gratitude a daily practice, a way of being that is always there whether you’re feeling joyful or sad.
You don’t want to wait until you’re feeling unwell or worrying about money to start your gratitude practice.
Ideally, it’s something that you already have as an essential tool in your spiritual tool belt.
So how can you integrate gratitude in your life so that you can draw upon it at any moment?
You need to incorporate it through daily rituals such as:
Saying thank you before you fall asleep
Try writing down everything that you are grateful for at the end of each day. You can keep it simple, but remember the details. Was it the beautiful flower you saw on your way to work? Or the compliment a stranger paid you? Was it the delicious food you were able to cook for yourself?
Whatever it is, make this reflection on your day the last thing you do before you get into bed and fall asleep. Saturate your brain with feelings of appreciation and gratitude for the minuscule details of your life and you will sleep soundly.
Saying thank you as you wake
This can be as simple as saying “thank you” for another new day of life as you rise each morning. It’s a beautiful way to begin the day, anchoring you into the right mindset as you begin each morning.
Saying thank you at meal times
Take just a few moments before you eat to give appreciation for the food on your plate. This does not need to be a religious experience if you associate it with that. This can be about acknowledging that a whole network of other human beings had a part in the growing, producing and transporting of the food you are about to eat.
If you find it hard to feel grateful, here’s my top tip.
Now this might seem in bad taste, but there is nothing like realizing there are people less fortunate than you to make you feel grateful. You can think about people who are suffering, people who have had to go to war, people who are missing loved ones or are in bad health and feel grateful for the fact that you get to be alive right now, breathing and with endless, wonderful possibilities before you.
Send love to anyone you know who is suffering and pay gratitude forward by doing something nice for someone else.
Jewels of Gratitude
It can also be a great idea to hold onto three or four top things you feel grateful for and return to them in your mind regularly.
These could be memories of a wonderful trip, time spent with someone you love, or the day your child was born for example.
Use these as your special jewels of gratitude – the things you can fall back on whenever life is tough and know that they will lift your spirits no matter what.
