Being grateful is an essential element of fully appreciating and truly enjoying life. To value who we are, what we have achieved, the things we have, the people around us, etc. helps us to live in harmony with our environment with a high degree of well-being.
Sometimes, though, “life happens” and we forget to be grateful. In those times, it’s important to remember that while there are many issues that are beyond our control, we CAN control how we react to the difficulties life throws at us.
Why is it so easy to get distracted by the negative, and forget (or diminish) the positive? In a word: evolution. Our minds are continually being bombarded with information, so our brains have evolved to filter out everything we’re not actively looking for. The problem is that our brains are also, at their most primal level, focused on survival so that’s why we tend to notice what is wrong or lacking since it could represent a danger to us.
If we get carried away by these negative thoughts instead of learning how to control them, they can start to dominate our mind and affect our expectations. We start to expect negative situations and create negative things in our life. The end result is a self-fulfilling prophecy of disappointing and frustrating experiences and results.
We can stop the natural negative bias of our mind by re-orienting towards abundance and what is positively possible, focusing on what we are grateful for. Here are 4 simple ways to start a gratitude practice.
With this shift in vision, your life can change its trajectory. Your world and everything you create in it can be revolutionized. We can learn to be grateful even when things are not going well and when conflicts or problems arise.
At Healing Hands, this is one of the things we try to teach corporate clients in our mindfulness classes. To be present, to not judge an experience as either “good” or “bad,” and to always to be grateful for what the universe teaches us in each moment of our life.
Here are some points that can help you create a shift in your perspective:
- Open your eyes: It’s important to get out of our “closed universe.” Look around and at others and realize all the things we have to be thankful for.
- Put things in perspective: Feeling down? Consider that things could always be much worse. When problems arise, be thankful there wasn’t an even bigger issue. [Side note: if you are going through a big issue, recognize it and give yourself permission to process your feelings.]
- Pay attention to the good things that do happen to you: If you look around, you will likely see a considerable amount of positive things in your life. It is essential to re-educate ourselves to learn to think positively and not only see but also appreciate the many good things we experience every day.
- Learn to be grateful by practicing it: Everything can be learned, and the ability to experience gratitude is a part of your character that can always be improved with regular practice.
- Surround yourself with people with positive and appreciative attitudes: Negative and pessimistic attitudes spread quickly, which is why it is important that those who accompany us in life have an optimistic vision.
This holiday season, we are most grateful for YOU, our loyal clients. 💖 THANK YOU from all of us at Healing Hands! 🙏🏼