What is worth being grateful for in our lives? Is it worth remembering gratitude at all? Being grateful is a habit we must develop. The ability to appreciate what surrounds us is extremely valuable and allows us to be more satisfied with our lives. Gratitude has a positive effect on our well-being, and according to some studies conducted in this area, it can increase our sense of happiness in life by up to 25%. Practicing gratitude isn't always easy. Sometimes, in many daily activities, in many stressful situations, we forget to appreciate what we have.
We quickly get used to what we already have and simply don’t appreciate much. If you want to be happier in life, remember to be grateful. By practicing and feeling gratitude, you will begin to see and appreciate what is positive. Sometimes it's easier to focus on what we don't have than on what we already have. It's important to take some time and remember all these things to be grateful for that many of us take for granted and something obvious. What can you be grateful for? There are many reasons to be grateful.
GRATITUDE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF LIVING A LIFE OF SATISFACTION AND SUCCESS. JACK CANFIELD
Definition
Some people understand gratitude as just the word “thank you” in response to some kind of attention addressed to them. But many studies show that this is not just a word or action, but an important positive emotion of a person.
Gratitude is a feeling of deep appreciation for someone or something for something significant and valuable to a person.
That is, this feeling. There are many sayings about this feeling from great people:
- This magic potion for any ailment, dispels anxiety and embraces the soul with kindness, fills the mind with wisdom. Neil Donald Walsh.
- The best thing you can do to change your life is to become a grateful person for everything you have today. Oprah Winfrey.
- We should be grateful to God that He created the world in such a way that everything simple is true, and everything complex is untrue. G. Skovoroda.
- This is the most beautiful of the flowers of the soul. Henry Ward Beecher.
- He who is grateful does not count grievances. Publius Sir.
This feeling has worried many for a long time - why some people give thanks and others don’t.
The feeling of gratitude is an expression of the generosity of the soul. It can be manifested materially with money, surprises, or maybe morally - to show the value of people, to support them in difficult times, and so on.
For example, I remember people who saved me in difficult moments, and on occasion I do something pleasant for them: a surprise or organize everyone’s attention to their person. In general, a feeling of gratitude often arises in response to something important done to us.
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is an expression of gratitude for a good deed. In any case, that’s what Wikipedia thinks, but it thinks it’s a bit crooked. You shouldn’t limit yourself to the word “good,” because it significantly limits gratitude (but more on that below).
So what is gratitude? In a nutshell: if something turns out to be useful for us, then we can evaluate it in return with our positive thoughts, words, and actions. This reaction is called gratitude. This is how we declare: “you’re cool, I’m very glad that you were useful to me.”
What is the power of gratitude
Surprisingly, gratitude is a contagious thing, just like ingratitude. Just remember yourself as a guest. You get up from the table and spontaneously say “thank you,” since several people have already done this before you. So gratitude has its own power.
I remember once with my friends we even organized a flash mob - we wanted to increase the positivity. They walked into the store, smiled, and after any purchase, change, or question answered, they said thank you. It's a small change for us, but it's nice for the sellers. So the most interesting thing is that even the most nervous seller began to smile and communicate more softly! So what is the power of gratitude?
Teaches you to appreciate what you already have
When we want something, we become fixated on what we don't have. This spoils your mood, a passing dog irritates you, noisy children blow your mind, and an absurd remark from a passer-by infuriates you.
But if you act differently - notice what you get today - the focus shifts. Your mood will lift, because you are no longer as unhappy a person as you thought. And the dog is already valuable - it meets you from work. And the child touches you - he talks about his successes with genuine emotions, and the passer-by “smiles” - he simply wished you to cross the pit, since he himself had just fallen into it.
We can talk about the benefits of gratitude for a very long time. I will list the main points.
Shifts focus away from problems
When a person trains in gratitude, he reacts to many problems normally, calmly, and becomes stress-resistant.
By the way, just a life hack from me - if you want to develop resistance to stress, first develop the ability to give thanks!
Really helps you get better
A grateful person is positive. And a positive attitude, as we know, can really help you recover. Positivity heals.
Magnetic resonance imaging studies of the brain's response to gratitude have revealed activity in an area that is very, very important for a healthy life and normal social interactions.
The connection between gratitude and the medial prefrontal zone reduces the effects of stress and restores the body's natural strength.
Improves relationships with people
Grateful people can be seen from afar, they are less nervous, more pleasant to communicate with, open, forgiving and require little for themselves. Such people know how to communicate correctly with others. Who wouldn’t want to communicate with such “darlings”?
Gives strength to forgive and understand
Gratitude leads to emancipation, liberation from resentment. Such a person can look at the offense from above, can find a reason for understanding, and not for quarrels. Thus, you expand your consciousness and instead of the position of a “victim”, you take the position of a confident person. By the way, a self-confident person is not prone to offense.
Makes you kinder and removes hatred
Gratitude helps you see the soul in others. When you understand why he did this to you, you will put aside your resentments and be able to express genuine gratitude for the experience.
And another life hack: this feeling is disarming, all the enemy’s manipulations will stop working if you are a grateful person.
Helps you value yourself
This feeling completely removes the feeling of self-pity that destroys. We free ourselves from negative energy and discover the other side of negativity in ourselves. We begin to see everything beautiful that surrounds us, to notice our advantages. And not to be proud, no, but to confidently change your life for the better.
Promotes personal development
We become less selfish, less dependent on material goods, but enjoy life more. We begin to be overwhelmed by how beautiful everything is around us, and this motivates us to develop even more.
Gratitude Practice: Research
University of Montana Communications Research scientists Stephen M. Yoshimura and Kassandra Berzins studied the relationship between expressing gratitude and well-being and found that people who express and experience gratitude feel energized and happy. generally satisfied with life. In addition, they rarely get sick, are physically active and sleep better.
And American psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCulloch conducted an experiment in which three groups of participants kept diaries for 10 weeks. People from the first group wrote down their thoughts every day about who and what they were grateful for, from the second - what annoyed them during the day and why, and from the third - they simply described all the events of the day. At the end of the experiment, psychologists concluded that the participants in the first group were more friendly, more optimistic about the future and devoted more time to physical exercise compared to the other participants.
And the well-known “gratitude diary” helped the experiment participants achieve this state.
What to be grateful for
Listen, a person’s whole life is one of continuous gratitude for those who really want to see good things. You stood up, saw the sunlight - these are two reasons: by your feet (you stood up) and by your eyes (you saw).
You gave a great speech in front of the board of directors or cleanly swept the courtyard of a high-rise building - you are WELL DONE! Thank yourself for a job well done.
And...eleven reasons to be grateful
