Practicing Gratitude Makes You Happier, So What’s Stopping You?
And I’d be so grateful if you’d give this lil article a read.
Practicing gratitude comes in many versions big and small. Sometimes, it’s giving gifts. Other times, handwritten notes. Sometimes, quick little check-in texts. Maybe even dishing out a compliment here and there. For some, it takes on a spiritual or religious meaning.
As someone who fights hard to get rid of intrusive negative thinking for years and years now, practicing gratitude in my daily life allows me to enjoy and appreciate more things about myself and others than I ever have before.
Do It For Yourself, First
Tough as it may be to see, there are so many things to be grateful for in this life. The more attentive you are with your surroundings, the more you’ll notice.
Have running water? A roof over your head? Electricity that powers countless things in your day-to-day? Warm and cozy blankets? A pet? Quality, lasting clothing? A comfy mattress that doesn’t make your back ache in 10 different places? Clean, fresh bedsheets? A subscription to a streaming service that allows you to listen to your favorite song or watch your favorite show in a desperate desire for quick comfort? Or maybe, a phone that serves a myriad of purposes in your life?
You get the gist. When you’re really going through it, it’s tough to see anything positive or good in your life. But, just think how much annoyingly harder and inconvenient life would be without some of the seemingly mundane, easy-to-overlook things I just mentioned.
Yeah, at the end of the day, remembering that you may have these things doesn’t get rid of the problems you’re dealing with, but it helps to remind you of the little things in life you *do* have, when during this time you typically can really only focus on the things you *don’t*.
Being grateful for all the littler things in your life just might get your spirits a little higher while also grounding you a bit, and when you’re in a low period, that can do so much for you.
Compliment, Compliment, COMPLIMENT
This is one of my personal faves. Receiving compliments always feel so nice, even if you’re kinda like me and don’t always know how to respond to one.
Why then, despite all the good feelings that come from compliments, are people so afraid to give them?
It’s not embarrassing. It’s not awkward. Your mind might trick you into thinking it is, but it’s simply not. Making someone feel good about themselves is seldom a bad thing, so why are we always so scared to do it?
I’ve started to almost force myself to compliment someone when I think something positive about them. I like their outfit? Their accessories? They have cool hair, or maybe nice shoes? Instead of overthinking why I shouldn’t tell them, if it really poses no real danger to me, why not just tell them?
Personally, I think about a compliment someone gives me for the rest of day, maybe even days later, and some have honestly stuck with me since the day I heard it. Compliments are a form of being grateful, they’re a way of making others feel better and feel appreciated and thus, you are expressing gratitude by feeling and acting on the desire to make someone feel good because you appreciate something about them.
Putting Good Out Into the World
In a world of Squidwards, be SpongeBob.
I’m a firm believer in karma. More popularized in society is bad karma, this idea that bad people who do bad things will eventually get what’s coming to them, typically a bunch of bad stuff in return. But what I love thinking about is good karma, the idea that when you do good and put good into the world, good things will happen to you.
Be shameless about the gratitude you express. Tell people you love that you love them whenever you can. Give them hugs. Give them undivided attention.
Instead of putting out negativity into the world, whether I direct it to myself or others, I choose to let these be a passing, annoying thought in my mind. I give it as little time and attention as possible, and in turn eventually toss the negativity out of my mind altogether. With repeated and intentional practice, doing this becomes easier as you reframe your thinking.
What good comes out of being so annoyingly and unnecessarily negative or hateful, anyway? There’s nothing truly fulfilling for you or the people you hurt, so why do it when you can so easily choose not to?
What goes around comes around. If you introduce gratitude into many facets of your life, happiness will follow in little and big ways alike.
Thank you so much for stopping by and reading this story! If you’d like to read more of my things within a similar vein, a few are linked down below! Or check out some lighter things on the rest of my page, lol :)
