Being Grateful Makes Us Feel Great

Two simple words, Thank You, can make an enormous difference to the way we feel about ourselves and our life.  There is a reason I try to remember to use a capital Y in You.  It is a little memory tick that reminds me of respect and  the significance  of the other person. Being happy does not make us grateful.  It is gratitude that makes us feel great.  There has been much research which has show that gratitude contributes to happiness and self confidence.  So why don't we do it more? For me it was the lack of awareness and the unhelpful negative way of thinking I had made a habit.  I had not given much thought to these unhelpful habits and certainly had no understanding about how I could change them.  

I now understand how important it is for me to remember to be grateful.  We are all interdependent and if were not for the kindness of others we would not be alive, let alone surviving. It is easy to slip into habits of negativity and taking things for granted, that negative, everything is going wrong spiral.  We can pull ourselves out of this by instead noticing the things that are going right, finding the silver lining in the cloud.  Being grateful is a great way to overcome feeling down.

It is easy for us to be grateful when we stop and think about our amazing lives and everything others are doing for us all the time.  We would not be able to survive a second without the kindness of others.  For many years i was in the unhelpful habit of waking up thinking with dread about all I had to do at work etc.  It took a while of retraining, but now I wake and think about all the things I am grateful for, including waking up!  This is a much more fun way to start the day and gets me going on the right foot.

Each morning when I have my coffee I like to remember to be grateful for those involved. When we think about something like a cup of coffee we often don't consider those many people who have contributed to it.  The farmers who grew, harvested the beans, those who processed, packed, shipped and transported them, the barista who made them into my cup of coffee, those who made the mug etc. And everything is like this!  I have so many reasons to be grateful.  I could easily choose to focus on the fact it was not the perfect temperature I like instead,which is not helpful to my peace of mind or happiness.  Choosing to be grateful and noticing all the kind things others are doing for us all the time is fun and contributes to our happiness.. We can be creative and think broadly and make that our default position instead of negativity and taking things for granted.

Some things that have helped me are understandings like ....

• Being happy does not make me grateful, it is gratitude that makes me happy
• Research has shown that being grateful contributes to our happiness and self-condfidence
• Being grateful is a great way to overcome feeling down
• It is easy for us to be grateful, our lives are amazing and others are doing kind things for us all the time 
• Our lives provide us with many opportunities to show kindness to others. And be grateful for these
• I would not be able to survive if it were not for the kindness of others.  All we need to do is begin to notice

Some things I like to try to remember are

• To wake up grateful, thinking about all I have to be grateful for and all the things going right in my life 
• To  express my gratitude, verbally or in letters
• To notice and bring to mind how others, often unknown and unseen,contribute to my amazing life and be grateful
• I have a choice between focusing on what I am grateful for and going right or to let negativity take hold.  
• We can't be grateful and unhappy at the same time so choose to be grateful. 

I am grateful to you for allowing me to share with you.  Thank You.   

Maree xx