by Ashley Bryan MS, LMHCA
I’m thankful for. I am fortunate to have. I appreciate.
All important sentiments as we wrap up another year. Another tough year at that. We are still feeling burdens of the pandemic and a social division that has created many hardships for many people.
“Hopefully next year is better.” “Can’t wait for 2022.”
These are the sentiments being distributed. And for good reason. It’s been HARD.
But has there been good? Have we been blessed? Do we have value in our life?
Gratitude is a vital emotion to embrace and connect with. Being grateful runs much deeper than #ThankfulThursday or #Blessed. Deeper than a thank you to the person who passed us the salt or the gentleman that held the door open.
What does it mean to be grateful? Feeling gratitude creates a space where we are able to be still and understand value in our lives and the people who surround us. Being grateful elicits an ability to receive both tangible and intangible blessings gracefully and soundly. True appreciation for life comes from the ability to feel genuine gratitude.
Being grateful holds many benefits to ourselves and others.
Mental health has been shown to improve drastically when we hold gratitude in our lives. When we allow stress and anxiety to consume us we often lose sight of the value to life. Negativity is always easier to see than positivity but gratitude creates a space where we are forced to see the positive aspects of our lives therefore creating hopefulness and serenity even in difficult moments.
Physical health is increased by incorporation of gratitude. Feeling positivity over stress allows for our bodies to thrive. We are more easily able to get quality sleep and take care of ourselves when we can focus on what we have to live for. Being grateful creates a desire to care for ourselves.
Relationships thrive when we utilize gratitude. Receiving things gratefully allows us a space to become thankful for the people in which we are receiving these things from. When we are thankful we show this appreciation to the important people in our lives and find ourselves in space in which we are able to also become more generous to these people in return, creating hopeful joy in a systemic manner.
Gratitude makes us resilient.
If we have no gratitude, we lose hope. We cannot value our lives without gratitude. Without value we can have no reason to overcome difficult moments and thrive.
But how do we display gratitude?
The fast paced, mundane tasks of life have led us to a slowed connection with gratitude. Surely most of us find ourselves saying “thank you” when we are given something or feel that somebody was there for us but how much of that has become a robotic response and how much of that is genuinely deep gratitude? Because this response has become an elicited action it does not often accompany true levels of gratitude. Gratitude should be intentional.
Write it down. Find time to privately embrace what you’re thankful for.
Pay it back. Make a plan to give other people a reason to feel grateful.
Elaborate. Make note of how life is different because of what you have.
DO THESE THINGS WITH REGULARITY.
Life is hard for everyone. Ugliness is obvious. Difficulty is exhausting. It would be EASY to sit and wonder why we have it so bad but this is not healthy. For yourself and for others, find what it is that makes it so good. So worth it. Challenge yourself to make gratitude a part of your daily routine and see how it changes your perspective. People do not regret being grateful. Gratitude does not harm your life.
If you are having a hard time finding what to have gratitude for contact us today. We are grateful for you.