Gratitude
“Every problem you face is an opportunity to learn something. The biggest lessons in your life have been learned from the darkest days.”― Tracy Malone
Gratitude is being thankful for the good things in life. We can be thankful for the big things such as a big promotion or a new born baby. We can also be thankful for the little things such as the foam on our cappuccino that makes our mornings a little bit more pleasurable (and bearable). Practicing gratitude means we appreciate what we do have instead on dwelling on what we don't have. The latter makes us miserable, while the former brings us peace and satisfaction.
The more we practice gratitude the more we begin to notice more things to be thankful for. Consider the red car theory, also known as the attention bias, which states that if you buy a red car, you'll start to notice more red cars. It is not that there are suddenly more red cars on the road, but you are starting to pay more attention to them. The same works with gratitude. The more you practice it the more you'll notice it in everyday life.
Gratitude exercises have been scientifically proven to change the way we think. We can literally rewire our brains. I am not kidding. Neuroplasticity is powerful: If you practice looking for the positives in everyday situations, then the brain will create new neural pathways. As these pathways become stronger, they will guide us to positive thoughts by default.
Gratitude journaling should be treated like going to the gym for your mood. The more you practice it, the greater the results you will have. The information we feed our brain is like a computer operating system. Provide it with consistent messaging and it will function accordingly.
So here is a simple way to get started:
1. Get a journal, or even a piece of paper. You can also use the notepad on your phone but pen to paper is best.
2. Write 3 things you are grateful for each day. You can start to increase that number as you go.
3. Save the journal, or save the pieces of paper and put them in a jar. In the future, it can be a month or a year from now, go back to read what you wrote as your gratitude. It is super fascinating, and it will help when you need your mood to be uplifted.