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Gratitude
Mind Mastery Minutes - V1.9
Henry Adams
March 25, 2024
We all take things for granted.
Whether it’s:
Health
Family
Friends
Mental faculties
Standard of living
We tend to take for granted anything that is constantly available.
Or one whose lack we have not experienced.
Only when something is taken away…
Do we realise the true worth and the impact it has on our lives.
Someone who has never been sick appreciates their good health less, as put by Chinese philosopher Confucius:
The healthy person wants a thousand things. The sick person, just one.
Gratitude: showing appreciation for the things in life that are meaningful or valuable to you.
We’ve all experienced this:
When you have a blocked nose, you start remembering the bliss of having clear airways.
Or if you’re injured, you suddenly appreciate how great it is to be able to move around with ease.
The same applies to everything else.
Only when things are taken away do we realise we took it for granted.
It’s human nature.
When something is consistently available to us, we naturally assume it will stay like that forever.
This clouds our perspective and reduces our capacity for a happy life.
Gratitude is the answer.
It reminds us of all that we have, shifting our focus to what actually matters to us, even if we struggle to “notice” these things.
So here’s how to practice gratitude:
3 Easy Ways To Practice Gratitude:
1. Change Your Language
What if I told you that changing one word consistently in your thoughts and speech could increase your levels of gratitude and happiness?
Try this:
Every time you are thinking about all the things you “have to” do, consciously change it to what you GET to do.
“I have to” do XYZ → “I get to” do XYZ.
“I have to wake up and go to work.”
vs
“I GET to wake up and go to work.”
This simple framing turns the boring, tedious or mundane into a blessing to be grateful for.
2. Gratitude Journaling
Try writing down 5 things you are grateful for:
Family
The sun
Music
Food in the fridge
Health
Even just thinking about them in your head will suffice…
Try it!
It works.
We as humans have a tendency to focus on the negatives.
Too caught up in comparing ourselves with others or getting what we “want,
We are rarely present enough to actually count our blessings and appreciate what we have.
Taking a few minutes every now and then can be really beneficial for your mood.
3. Reframe Your Thinking
Reframing your thinking is about shifting your thoughts towards an abundant mindset.
You can do so in the following ways:
Focus on what you have, not what you want.
Start thinking of your life as complete, don’t focus on what is “missing” in it.
Pay attention to negative thoughts and turn them positive:
“I failed.” → “I am learning for next time.”
“I’m happy because I am grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.”
“My cup runneth over.”
“Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience.”
Cheers for reading till the end.
This is something I need to work on, so hopefully we can both apply this in our lives and be better.
Cheers.
H
MMM V1.9