The Effects Of Gratitude On Your Life And Health

Gram’s Wisdom 21

If you read Gram’s Wisdom 2 you would know my Gram was a great one for gratitude. She never let an opportunity go by where she wasn’t thankful for something or someone in her life. Consequently, there were always more good things than bad happening to her. Still, Gram didn’t believe that gratefulness was a panacea for all life’s ills.

Instead, Gram taught me to be thankful for my good health, smile when I didn’t feel like it, to choose happiness when I wasn’t, and to remember that whatever I might go through there are always others who are worse off. She told me to be grateful for what good things I had and that there would always be enough of those.

I am happy to say that she was right. My life hasn’t been any easier than anyone else’s, but I have had plenty to be thankful for. Like my Gram, I wake every day feeling grateful for another day and aware of all the goodness in my life.

So now prepare yourself to make the change to a gratitude-based life because the rewards for doing this are worth it.

Some benefits of gratefulness

Gratitude helps you feel happy and contented

Nobody is happy 24 hours a day but when you have an attitude of gratitude you will be happier a lot more than if you don’t have one. How does this work? Well, when you appreciate the things that you have in your life you feel contentment with what you have and can remove yourself from the “wanting” spiral.

Each time that you think about things in your life to be grateful for, and express your gratitude, then you will feel happy. Do this several times a day there are no limits. Contrast this to someone who is constantly craving new things in their life. They aren’t going to be happy very often.

Your optimism increases

Optimism is a great thing. It flips the script on your thinking from negative to positive. It gives you hope for the future and you will love the transformation. When you are a pessimist all you see is doom and gloom. You fear the future and what it will bring. Your life is controlled by events that happen around you rather than by you.

Optimism does not mean that you just blindly accept everything. What it does is open you up to a vision of opportunities all around you and gives you confidence that your future is looking bright. If you had anxiety about your future before then optimism will help significantly with this.

Challenges won’t overwhelm you

We all must face difficulties in our lives and overcome them. For some people, even the smallest problems overwhelm them. For others, the large problems stress them out, and they become very anxious. Most people have an extremely negative attitude towards the problems that they face in their lives.

With an attitude of gratitude, you will be able to see the good in everything. You will see problems as an opportunity for you to grow. For the larger problems, it is a chance for you to stretch yourself and do things that you haven’t done before. You can accept that difficulties are a part of life and you believe they will help in your growth as a person.

Physical health benefits

A lot of research studies have shown that people with an attitude of gratitude find it strengthens their immune system which leads to all other kinds of physical health benefits. With a stronger immune system, you will be able to fight off ill health and have the energy to keep going when others need to stop.

Mental health benefits

Gratitude is good for your mental health as well. With an attitude of gratitude, your stress level is lower and if it does happen then you will deal with it more easily. Because expressing gratitude makes you feel happy thereby releasing hormones that will help brighten your mood as well.

Here are some practical gratitude usages so that you get the most from the benefits listed above.

1. See your world from a gratitude standpoint

It’s understood that you are busy, but you should take time out during your day to observe your reality from a gratitude point of view. Focus on your surroundings and look for things to be grateful for. You probably take these things for granted but with practice, it should be easy for you to identify them and appreciate them.

It doesn’t matter how large or small the things that you notice are. Just see them as providing a lot of good in your life and express your gratitude for them. Do this every day and in a short time, you will begin to do this on autopilot. You will look forward to these moments because of the feeling that you get from expressing your gratitude.

2. Write your feelings in a gratitude journal

If you don’t have a gratitude journal, then begin one now. Keep it simple. A notepad will do there is no need to buy something expensive. Commit yourself to make daily entries in your gratitude journal. When you wake up in the morning write 3 things that you are grateful for and the reasons why.

Also, in the evening you can record the things that you have been grateful for throughout your day. There is power in writing things down and you can reflect on your gratitude journal entries every week to inspire you to carry on your gratitude journey.

3. Practice being more humble

To get the maximum benefit from your gratitude efforts you must work on your humility. Humility is defined as showing more respect and modesty. It should be easy for you to identify where you can be humble in your life.

Don’t take things for granted and behave as if you are entitled. That is the exact opposite of being grateful.

5. Give compliments to others

Commit to giving at least one compliment, each day. This can be a compliment that you give to another person or something in your life that you want to be complimentary about. When you give compliments to others pay attention to how they feel about this and what they say to you. It will make you feel warm inside and you will want to continue with your gratitude.

6. Turn those difficulties into prospects

This has been discussed already. When you have an attitude of gratitude it will be much easier for you to see the opportunities within any problem, for you to move out of your comfort zone and improve yourself. Each time you are faced with a problem think about what you can learn and what you can be grateful for with it.

My final thought

My Gram lived her gratitude. At the age of 101, she was still telling me what she was grateful for. And I was grateful to be the person with whom she shared those expressions. 

I hope that you will see that these benefits are truly life-changing and that making the transition to gratitude can be worthwhile to you.

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Cultivate Your Gratitude Then Practice Daily

Changing your life with gratitude

While most people are unaware of the amazing power that gratitude has and how it can transform their lives for the better. Yet, some believe in the ability we all have of improving our lives by expressing gratitude for what we already have. When you practice gratitude each day you will see changes in your life very quickly and be amazed at the transformation that it makes.

This article is meant to provide you with some examples of how gratitude can make your life a lot better. You need to have the complete inside track on how gratitude can transform your life so that you’ll be inspired to make this significant change in your life. So read these examples and then get working on your attitude of gratitude right away.

Gratitude helps you maintain a happier mood

It’s easy to fall into a bad mood if you don’t have an attitude of gratitude. If someone has done something that upsets you, rather than becoming angry at them why not express some gratitude towards them instead?  Understandably this is not an easy thing to do and it does require some practice, but the results will certainly be worth it.

You will find when you do this that your mood will change from a negative frustrated or angry state to a happier state of being. This is especially useful in your relationships with coworkers as well as friends and family. Don’t allow things they do to annoy you, put you in a bad mood, or provoke an argument. Instead, think about how grateful you are for the helpful or nice things they normally do and tell them this. You and they will feel better for it.

Gratitude improves your love relationship

The number of break-ups and divorces in the world today are rising at an alarming rate. People are frazzled and tend to fly off the handle with their partner over the smallest of things. If you are someone that frequently criticizes your partner for their failings, then try changing your approach and show them gratitude instead.

It should be easy for you to recall things that your spouse does that you are grateful for when you put your mind to it. Hey, it could be you are grateful that they ignore your failings. But whatever it is tell your partner why you are grateful they in your life and make them feel warm and fuzzy. Notice how their face changes and what words they say in reply. Gratitude will certainly help you make your relationship stronger if you give it a try.

Parent better with gratitude

If you have children, then it’s easy for you to become frustrated with them. They do things that you don’t want them to do and this leads to anger and disappointment. In this situation, most parents express their disappointment to their kids which just creates a negative atmosphere.

Rather than criticizing your kids and having them feel bad about themselves, think about why you are grateful to have your children and tell them this. This will lighten both your moods straight away and everyone will feel better for the experience.

Gratitude helps you cope with the loss

If you experience a loss in your life be it losing a loved one, your job, or something else important then think about the people and things remaining in your life and express your gratitude for them. We all face major knocks in life at some time or another and the most important thing is that you don’t allow it to overcome you.

When expressing your gratitude for the people and things that you still have in your life it will be easier to move forward positively. In the future as the pain of your loss recedes you should begin to feel grateful for the happy memories of the past.

Cultivating your gratitude

We lead busy lives these days and it can be a challenge to take time to ponder about the things in your life that you can be grateful for. But doing this is fundamental, as you will receive some incredible benefits from being grateful and for expressing your thanks for what you have in your life right now.    

Stop and look around you

Commit to pause several times during the day and ask yourself the question “what am I truly grateful for in my life?” You can also ask yourself “who are the most important people in my life and why am I grateful for them?”

When you ask yourself these questions your subconscious mind will arrive at any number of answers for you. Take these answers and evaluate why the people or things are so important for you and express your gratitude for having them in your life. This should not take you long to do each day and will improve your habit of looking for things to be grateful for.

Take a long look at yourself

Being grateful for the qualities that you possess is a powerful way to cultivate your gratitude and increase your self-esteem. Think about what you have achieved recently and the challenges that you’ve had to overcome. You can think back to your past for some good examples of this as well.

You can look beyond the things that you have achieved as well. What other traits do you possess that you are proud of? Are you compassionate and kind to others? Do you have good empathy skills? Are you dependable and loyal toward your partner, your family, and your friends? There are always lots of things that you can come up with about yourself.

What do you take for granted?

When people are starting on their attitude of gratitude journey, they will usually think about the bigger things in their life to be grateful for but please don’t limit yourself to this. The little things in your life are often more important to you.

Just open your eyes and look around you. If you are at home, then notice the wonderful things that surround you to make your life beautiful, easier, and more enjoyable. Take a walk outside and look at the beauty of nature as well.

Have a morning and evening ritual

It is easy to forget about expressing your gratitude in modern life. So, if you want to have plenty to be grateful for, you should create a new routine where you will think about things to be grateful for in the morning when you wake up and before you go to bed at night.

Think about 3 things that you can be grateful for at these times. It does not matter if they are big or small things. In the morning it could be the simple fact that you are grateful for a new day ahead while in the evening it can be that you accomplished your goals. Write down the 3 things in the morning and evening in a gratitude journal so that you can reflect on these later.

My final thought

I have noticed that some people feel like everyone else has things to be grateful for while they have little or nothing for which to be grateful. They take for granted their good health rather than expressing thanks for it. It is this attitude that prevents them from having more. Simply put, when you express gratitude for what you have you will receive more to be grateful for.

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