The Healing Power of Gratitude
“Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see”
Paying attention to the things we are grateful for puts us into a positive frame of mind, it reminds us of what matters to us and the things that make each day worthwhile. For those who may be following me on social media know that I am currently going through something in my life that is very heavy and requiring some healing. While I have very much allowed myself the time to grieve what I have also found is that I have very much needed to focus on healing and for some reason my natural inclination was to immediately start focusing on the things that mean the most to me. When I started to focus on healing I found myself each morning focusing on the things that I was grateful for, the things that made me happy, the things that bring me joy, and more importantly the things that were beautiful in my life; gratitude.
Every morning this week I have been writing down a few things (somewhere around 5-10 things) that are wonderful in not only my life but the world. What I have found is that by starting my morning out focusing on gratitude I don’t wake up as sad and whether than wallowing I am smiling more, finding joy, and most importantly having hope.
Here are a few of the things I am most grateful for right now:
My family, who are the greatest versions of support
My son, who is the light of my life.
Gravel biking
The strength I have in my body
The fact that my body is able to do amazing things
I have a beautiful home
My business is strong and I am blessed to work with amazing athletes
Running
Triathlon
Coffee and flowers from amazing people.
The amazing people I have met over my journey.
That I can handle tough things
There is love in my life
Its such a small and simple thing that takes me around 5 minutes every morning but through those five minutes I have found so much healing.
There is so much benefit to gratitude:
Connects us to the world around us and to ourselves.
Cultivates positive emotions and feelings.
Reminds us of the things that are worthwhile to us.
Greater happiness.
Increased empathy for yourself and others.
So if there is that much power in something so simple why is it that we have such a hard time doing it?
Allowing ourselves to recognize and feel what we have puts us into a state in which we feel more present and aware of what makes us happy yet that can also be a gateway to sadness. Sometimes when we slow down and acknowledge happiness and kindness it brings vulnerability to our life and that is scary.
Vulnerability is uncomfortable and can make us anxious which can cause us to pull away from the things that make us happy; people don’t like to be vulnerable.
However, when we allow ourselves to be feel these feels and realize the beauty that exists in those feelings it can be calming and invigorating.
How can we be more grateful?
Be more accepting of yourself, and give yourself some grace. This sounds so simple but its true and when we express our gratitude that in turns makes us more grateful. Our brains cannot tell the difference between imaginary and reality and so what we tell ourselves on a regular basis it will believe and this goes to the same for our actions, when we continually express gratitude to ourselves and others then our brain will start to continually look for and express gratitude.
Practicing mindfulness and gratitude means paying attention, purposeful attention, to the present moment.
I will be honest I didn’t totally believe this, I always knew the power for telling yourself positive statements about yourself and your actions but the simple act of just writing down things you were grateful for… didn’t seem that powerful until now.
Life isn’t about getting what you deserve but rather receiving what we already have, thinking about what you have not what you are supposed to have. It is easy to let go of thoughts of frustration and disappointment when you don’t allow room for them.
What are you grateful for today? Try writing down three to five things you are grateful every morning… what do you notice is different about your mindset when you do that?