Nothing is greater than gratitude

Nothing is greater than gratitude

I wanted a bigger house. I wanted different colour paint in my room and cool wooden floors rather than the blue carpet I had. I wanted those things so bad that at times I forgot to be grateful for even just having a home. 4 safe walls to sleep within every single night. Warm fuzzy carpet that kept me warm in the coldest winters, the bright pink coloured walls graffitied by my childhood friends I could only wish to see again one last time. It makes me sad to think there’s times we want things to be different so badly,  that it takes away the beauty in what we already have.

We go through unimaginable things sometimes that can easily convince us we are the most unlucky people alive. Sometimes it feels impossible to feel thankful for anything in the times we feel the world is simply against us. But tell me, if we did not go through such yucky times, how could it be possible to know when we are in a moment full of complete happiness and show gratitude towards even our smallest of blessings. Something I did not recognise meant so much to me until there were nights I went without it is my ceiling fan.. ha ha ha it sounds funny right but I could not tell you how grateful I am for that silly dust collector for getting me to sleep every single night without fail. Those are the sort of things we should be reminding ourselves of as much as possible, the smallest things that we often take for granted. The laugh you might’ve shared today with your best friend, the yummy lunch you were able to afford, the ability to go on your daily beach walk to catch the sun as it sets. We go through life sometimes failing to recognise that even in our hardest times, there is always room for thankfulness. Not only should we recognise the things we are grateful for, we should also recognise the understated benefits it has to our mental and physical health.

 The best part is it is so simple to incorporate gratitude into our every day lives. There are numerous ways to successfully and easily introduce gratitude into daily life, and we have put together a list of just a few to help you embark your journey to a more positive, flourishing lifestyle. Gratitude journalling has been proven to benefit us in countless ways like improving sleep and eating habits, interpersonal relationships, mindfulness, reducing stress and anxiety…and that’s just a start.  UCLA health shares research that has shown the benefits of putting pen to paper for 15 minutes a day whether that’s of a morning when first waking up or just before going to sleep, is one of the easiest and most underrated ways to improve overall health and psychological well-being.  Those who have regularly practiced gratitude journalling have reported increased feelings of happiness,  reduced inflammation in the body and the list goes on and on.

Another way to regularly practice gratitude is the act of acknowledging when you say thank you and asking yourself what it is you feel thankful towards in that exact moment. Much like the words “I love you”, “Thank you” is used so often we sometimes forget to truly think about what we love and appreciate. Almost every single day we are trying so hard to keep up with the world around us that we forget the smallest things that made such a positive impact on us during the day. I remember scrolling through my phone and stumbling across a video once where a lady talked about her way of practicing gratitude. She talked about gently patting where her heart would be anytime she felt thankful or happy to give herself physicals pin points to look back on at the end of the day . I found this method to be so effective as it proved to me at the end of each day no matter how hard it may have been, there was always at least one thing I could look back on and feel appreciation towards.

Dopamine and serotonin are the chemicals released in our brains when experiencing things that bring us happiness and pleasure. When we allow ourselves to transform negative thinking into positive thinking by actively and regularly acknowledging even our smallest blessings, we can be expected to experience improved sleep, reduced anxiety and symptoms of depression. This is because feeling positive emotions will assist in the brains ability to produce those chemicals resulting in reduced negative thoughts and feelings.

It is important to recognise being grateful doesn’t completely take away the bad times in our life but rather makes us so extra appreciative for the good times. Thankfulness is one of the vital keys to begin living your flourishing lifestyle.

Written by J J Barnshaw.