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“Without gratitude and appreciation for what you already have, you’ll never know true fulfillment.” ~~ Tony Robbins
Do you find it difficult staying grateful for just a few hours? You’ve got good health, working brain and mind and body, money to cater for your basic needs, while some folks out there don’t even have as close to what you’ve got. You know you should be grateful but some how it’s just not working. Hey! If that’s you, no pressure, I can relate with you on that one hundred percent.
Stuck in the ingratitude rut
It was a big struggle for me to just go through the day and not focus on gratitude. Why? For some reason, I seems to have fixated more on what I didn’t have, or what I’d lost or what wasn’t available to me. And you what? I always found something to point out because we always find what we’re looking for. For a long time this persisted and I just got fed up about not being grateful especially when deep down I knew I had a lot to give gratitude for.
I also realized that from preachers and some self-help experts I’d been listening to maintaining an attitude of gratitude is a HUGE thing. And according to them, they’d attribute a huge part of their success and fulfillment in life to gratitude. Since, I was feeling miserable already and was eager for a change, I eventually decided to put this “gratitude thing” into practice as is now my nature to take action on what I learn.
After putting different pieces together, I ended up formulating a system to help keep me of check with maintaining a gratitude attitude all through the day. And honestly my life has changed drastically in that area. I tend to focus more on what I’ve been blessed to have, what I believe and hope for and the progress I’ve made so far on the journey of life.
My gratitude practice has become a part of my life (and I plan to stick with them forever actually) and has opened my heart to receive more joy and hope with less stress and worries.
I just thought to share in the article my gratitude practice and hopefully this will inspire you to go put something in place for yourself so you can experience more peace and joy and hope.
1. Taking count of what I am grateful for
You know how it feels when you hear the same recommendations or suggestions come to you from different individuals? You just have this knowing that – oh boy, this is meant for me. Although I’d learnt to give thanks to God especially during my morning devotion in appreciation for everything He’s done, I started belittling the exercise and no wonder I felt the harsh impact. It wasn’t until this one period in my life when I had multiple folks share the importance of outlining at least 5 things each more I was grateful for.
Again, I put this into practice and with time I began to notice the shift that had on my life. For one, this helped me to begin each day with an abundance mindset and an open heart with gladness even to receive and give more.
It can be easy to forget the gazillion blessings we have because one or two things seems ‘missing’ in our lives. By starting my day doing this exercise, I am reminded that I have lots of reasons to be grateful for.
2. Gratitude alarm through out the day
To keep me in that gratitude zone all through the day, as much as possible, I had to set alarms that would buzz off several times in the day (12noon, 3pm, 6pm, 9pm). I don’t know about you, but I can get lost in the cacophony of events going on during the day that I forget how I feel and lose track of time. And so whenever the alarms pop up, I just pause to say – ‘Thank you God’ – as many times as I can while I ensure that the juice of gratitude in my heart is still flowing. During the days as well I listening to a lot of uplifting gospel songs that just help me stay grateful.
This one too, I picked up from a bunch of other self-help experts/pro athletes, who I’d studied in an attempt to overcome the the cloud of ingratitude.
“Things don’t always go as planned for me all the time, but I’ve decided that I won’t let circumstances around me steal my joy and happiness.”
3. End the day with a gratitude note
There’s nothing as exciting as ending your day with gratitude just as it started. This point reminds me that I’ve received another blessing for the day and I should be thankful. As the day wraps up, I scribble down one or more events that happened for which I was grateful for. It could be something kind someone did for me or something I received miraculously , etc. I then go to bed with increased sense of happiness in anticipation for a better tomorrow.
Obviously this is not in anyway to say that I never have a ‘bad’ day. Things don’t always go as planned for me all the time, but I’ve decided that I won’t let circumstances around me steal my joy and happiness. In other words, I am not letting the external events control my gratitude level. I’ve lived so long letting that happen and now I refused to allow that to continue.
I am sure some more points will come up as I continue to improve on my gratitude practice. And I am happy to share those as well. 🙂
What exercises do you take to help to maintain an attitude of gratitude through out the day?
To your attitude of gratitude!