Last update: January 16, 2015
There is always something to be thankful for. Always be grateful for the loved ones and the people you already have close to you. A grateful heart makes you happy.
(Buddha Siddhārtha Gautama)
Many times we forget how important it is to be grateful. There are many issues in life that are beyond our control, but we can certainly control how we react to various situations.
Our mind is bombarded with millions of bits of information per second, which is why we need to filter out everything we are not actively looking for.
The problem lies in the fact that, as a general rule, our mind tends to see the negative aspects and shortcomings. This is due to the fact that, in order to avoid dangers and ensure our survival, we look for what is not contemplated in the expected or that may represent a danger.
However, if we get carried away by these negative thoughts, they can begin to dominate our mind and damage our expectations. We begin to expect negative situations and create them in our life. The end result: a lifetime of disappointing and frustrating experiences and results.
Anyway, we can hold back the natural negative tendency of our mind by reorienting towards abundance and towards what is positively possible by focusing on what we should be grateful for.
With this change of vision, your life can change trajectory almost instantly. Your world can revolutionize as well as everything you believe in.
In this way you will feel much better, as you will be grateful even when things don't go well and when conflicts or problems arise.
Learn to be grateful to enjoy life more
What vision do you have of your life? Are you able to value the positive things you have? What aspects do you focus on when thinking about your existence? The following points can stimulate your reflection and help you change the perspective you have had so far:
Open your eyes to the world. We have to get out of our "closed universe", look outside, other people and realize all the things we have and be grateful for that. Unfortunately, there are many people who find themselves in worse situations than ours; be aware of it! You will certainly be much more grateful afterwards for the situation you are in, which you are probably used to complain about.
Be aware of all the bad things that happen. Sometimes little setbacks happen, but you think they could have been far worse. It is important to realize this and to be thankful that the problem has not been more serious.
Notice the good things that happen to you. Many times we live life without paying attention to the little beautiful things that happen to us every day because the most “spectacular” things are more evident and catch the eye. However, if you think about it a little, you will realize how many positive things there are in your life. It is essential to re-educate ourselves to learn to think positively and to see all the beautiful things that happen every day.
Learn to be grateful by putting it into practice. You can learn everything, and the ability to experience gratitude is a part of the character that can always be improved if desired. There are several ways to do this, such as writing each day in a "gratitude journal," as Martin Seligman advises. Did you know that the effectiveness of gratitude in people's lives is scientifically proven?
Surround yourself with people with a positive and appreciative attitude. Negative and pessimistic attitudes are infected quickly, for this reason it is important that the people who accompany us in life have an optimistic outlook. We too can help others see all the good things in their life.
Make up your own mind not to be victims. In difficult times or when you lose someone, it is important to be grateful for what you still have and for the opportunities that still lie ahead. It's about not focusing only on what we consider negative and looking for the positive side of every situation. There is always something favorable, even if it is difficult to spot at first.
Being grateful is a quality we all admire in the character of others, right? For this reason there is no excuse. Much less is there an age to be grateful, you are never too old to try to be positive and value all the wonderful things you have.
Try it! You will see that you can gradually begin to feel grateful for the little things that happen to you.
Image courtesy of Alice Popkorn
