Serene Nuggets - Gratitude
- sidpandey12
- Nov 21, 2023
- 4 min read
In today's post, I will be talking about gratitude.
Hmm...like just saying thanks kinda thing?
Precisely! :) As we go on about our daily lives, you might have noticed that we have a tendency to focus on the negatives. Oh, I want a bigger house, a bigger car, a bigger job title. But do we ever express gratitude for what we do have?
Think about it. The very fact that you exist right now, in this moment, living this life. Isn't that a miracle in itself? The air your breathe, the house that you live in, the bed that you sleep on, if we just take a look around our tiny little room, there's already so much to be grateful for!
If you give it a deeper thought there's already so much you'll find you're grateful for. Your family and friends who support you, the opportunities that you're presented with in your daily life, the job that you have, the food that you eat. There's so much we can thank God for.
Any benefits to this thing?
A ton of em ;)
We often tend to get too wrapped up in our days, constantly struggling with feelings of inadequacy, always anxious about the next big thing life should give us. The next big promotion, the next big success. Shifting our perception to being grateful for what we already have can subconsciously alter our patterns of thinking to more positive states, where we no longer hinge our happiness on the next big thing in our life.
If you think about it, isn't that a terrible way to live? We only have very few big moments in our life. The first time you got into college, the first job, marriage etc. Do we really want to live 99% of our life overthinking and anxious? What about the small pleasures of life?
Gratitude teaches us to appreciate our life for what it is and this is a very powerful tool which offers a ton of emotional and health benefits -
1. We are happier and more relaxed
We learn to be more joyful, happy and relaxed. Instead of focusing on what stresses us all the time, which is how most people think, we learn to let go and appreciate the little things.
2. We are healthier
When we're more happy, we're more healthy! As the saying goes, a healthy mind leads to a healthy body. Research has shown that practicing gratitude can lead to improved heart health! In addition, it can help calm the nervous system and reduce blood pressure. Reference - https://www.mindful.org/an-introduction-to-mindful-gratitude/
3. Leads to stronger relationships
It can help strengthen relationships which in turn can lead to so much happiness and satisfaction. So the next time you meet your friends and family, just give them a big hug and thank them for everything they've done for you! :) You could also go a step ahead and say you love them.
4. Improved mental well being
The simple act of being thankful can make you much more resilient to adversity. Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us all the time, but now we can face those with a much more positive state of mind. It's like a grounding exercise, where we say that even though things are not ideal at the moment, there is so much I have to be grateful about. Life is not all that bad!
5. Improved quality of life
Once we are happier, we will naturally make more healthy choices for our life. This could mean you're able to finally get up as early as you want, or possibly you may make a choice to avoid junk food and start eating healthier. All with the simple practice of saying thank you!
I am sold. How do I practice this thing?
Glad you asked! One of the simplest ways to practice gratitude is to start a gratitude journal. Remember in one of the posts I said I would cover journalling? Well, here you go :)
Look around your room. You may find your favorite diary or notebook you could use for this exercise.
Every day, I want you to spend 10 minutes reflecting on what you are grateful for. Write down at least 5 things you're grateful for on that day. It could be something as small as "That stranger was so kind to compliment me on my jacket" to something as big as "My parents are finally coming over to visit me!".
As you write these, I want you to recall these events, people, places or things which you're grateful for, and for a second, just pause and think how it made you feel? How does gratitude feel within? This is important. Remember, the goal of all mindfulness practices is not just going about it on a whim, but we want to always have those periodic checkins with our mind and body :) This serves to imprint the experience in our minds, and would encourage us to practice even more gratitude!
Video time?
Oh yes! Have you ever seen any post of mine without a video? :) Here we go!
For the more scientifically inclined, here's a great talk by Andrew Huberman on developing a gratitude practice -
Here's another video, where even Steve Harvey and Oprah Winfrey talk about how powerful gratitude can be!
Nice! Dude I am really sold on this journalling thing but I am not sure what to write each day. Are there any journals on Amazon or something?
Yes! Let me share some amazing gratitude journals you can start using today -
Good Days Start With Gratitude:
A 52 Week Guide To Cultivate An Attitude Of Gratitude: Gratitude Journal
This self-exploration journal has well-designed weekly spreads that contain inspirational quotes, checkpoints, and enough space to write three things you are grateful for each day. It is also aesthetically pleasing, with its floral drawings and neat pages.
The Five Minute Journal -
Here's another one which comes highly recommended
Here's an amazing list of journals by Happier Human which you can also check out
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