As my contribution towards Mental Health day on 10th of October, I was inspired to share some wisdom's on gratitude from chapter four of my book, “Freedom to Be Me”.
I shared a particular tool that helped me in my life 20 years ago when I was depressed, demotivated, feeling worthless and anxious.
The tool I used was simple. I would journal 10 things that I was grateful for each day, and in the weeks, months and years that followed, it made a huge difference to how I felt; ultimately completely changing my life for the better.
Here are 3 ways to practice gratitude today:
1. Gratitude for the present:
When you are feeling anxious, unhappy or worried your attention tends to be in the past or the future. Once you realise and accept the gift that is TODAY, you will find that your body and mind become more relaxed, your stress levels will decrease and you will be able to think more clearly and become more solution focused. The PRESENT is aptly named because it is truly the biggest GIFT we can ever receive and enjoy.
2. Gratitude for what you have:
Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, count the blessings that are present in your life right now! No seriously, actually list your blessings. This will help shift your attention away from your problems allowing you to see what is actually working well in your life. Most often than not it is a small part of your life that has an issue, which has been blown way out of proportion. you've likely heard the saying, "making a mountain out of a molehill". So become a Gratitude Giant and watch that mountain quickly shrink to the size of a molehill.
3. Gratitude for your abundance:
When we are grateful for even the smallest thing we do have, we attract even more of that in out life.
Our thoughts have a vibrational frequency, which attracts similar vibration and matches them. So if you perceive that you have no money, then that will end up becoming your actual reality because you will not be able to see past your perceived reality and therefore the abundance that life has to offer will pass you by and go to someone else who believes that it exists and is available to them.
Gratitude for the abundance that is available and believing that it is accessible to you will open the door for endless possibilities to come into all aspects of your life.
Gratitude is one of the chapters in my book “Freedom to Be Me”.
Visit the Amazon book store and get your copy in order to learn more about training yourself to have an attitude of gratitude along with many other tools on your journey to happiness, fulfillment and inner peace.