GRATITUDE is valuing your life and everything it offers you, and for me, it is the key to happiness.
People tend to pay attention to everything that we lack, what we are not, do not have, or have not achieved; seeing life from scarcity and lack. But if, on the contrary, we began to focus on the blessings that we already enjoy, for example, something as obvious or simple as being alive or savoring a delicious coffee, we could see it from what we already are and have, what already gives us joy, and understand it as a gift, a source of abundance, and infinite opportunity.
Gratitude is the habit I've spent the most time on in my life, and it's made a world of difference. It has given me incomparable well-being, which has become the engine to achieving each of my goals.
Every day I take a moment to practice gratitude, becoming aware of everything that deserves my thanks. So I soon discovered that it is not success or abundance that leads to happiness. On the contrary, it is the happiness that gratitude brings me that leads me wherever I want to go.
That's why I want to invite you to practice it permanently until you realize that you don't need something extraordinary to be in a state of gratitude. Waking up alive, a smile, breathing (I was asthmatic and I can attest to the blessing of being able to breathe without difficulty), giving or receiving a nice word or message or a kind gesture, sharing a moment with someone nice, appreciating the landscape while you walk, the reasons are infinite.
Today, I also want to share with you why I believe that the difficulties, the people you don't like, the attitudes that disturb you, deserve to be thanked and invite you to reflect on this point. Practicing gratitude, I have learned that each difficult situation or challenge leads me to discover who I am, what my abilities are, and my resilience. Likewise, each person that I dislike, each conflict or attitude of the other that hurts or bothers me; shows me a part of me that I must work on. So, they become teachers and opportunities for transformation and growth. Learning from these people and experiences, appreciating them as constructive, allows you to forgive, learn to let go of situations much more easily in order to move forward, and prevents you from making the same mistakes and the pain that they could cause you in the future. The result is that instead of getting hooked on the negative, you learn to turn adversity into an opportunity to be a better human being, you appreciate it and experience much more peace and happiness.
Now, the well-being that gratitude brings goes far beyond my personal experience. It has been the subject of interesting scientific studies. For example, the renowned professor of psychology at the University of Davis, Robert Emmons found that people who practice gratitude are more positive, optimistic, and focus on what they already have and not what they lack. They release and heal their past wounds more easily, they have more energy, and they are more compassionate, generous, and sociable. The psychologists Francesca Gino and Adam Grant found that a person can work more and better with their colleagues, simply if we thank them because that motivates them. Mark Goulston, a psychiatrist, and co-founder of Heartfelt Leadership at the Harvard Business Review Blog Network highlighted that gratitude is essential in professional relationships.
Another study conducted by psychologist Allen Barton of the University of Georgia found that valuing and thanking the other is key to marital happiness. When we feel grateful for someone or something, it minimizes its negative aspects or that of the relationship. Glen Fox of the Brain and Creativity Institute of the University of Southern California and neuroscientist Antonio Damasio conducted research that showed that gratitude activates the brain areas responsible for consciously perceiving emotions and feeling motivated, which allows establishing a relationship between gratitude and well-being.
Professor of psychology Martin Seligman of the University of Pennsylvania, father and founder of positive psychology, also discovered that writing a letter of thanks and delivering it personally generates a feeling of well-being in the writer, which lasts for weeks, and could even reach the last for months This would prove that feeling grateful makes us happier.
If we take scientific findings as a reference, we will find that gratitude brings innumerable benefits:
Strengthens the immune system and improves health.
Improves mood and reduces stress, anxiety, and depression.
Fight insomnia.
Activates positive emotions, well-being, and happiness.
Increases longevity.
Strengthens relationships.
Reduces the feeling of loneliness.
It is a source of energy and optimism.
It increases self-esteem, empathy, generosity, and altruism.
promote forgiveness
Inspires and drives you to achieve your dreams
It makes you stronger and more resilient.
I suggest you turn gratitude into a philosophy of life and check its results. Begin right now to do the exercise of seeing the people, things, and situations that are presented to you, as if they were a blessing. Start thanking people for every word or action you receive from them. If you choose to live in a state of gratitude, trust in yourself, and in life as an intelligent process, appreciating what you are and have, you will stop feeling it as a burden and begin to experience it as a wonderful gift that offers you unlimited opportunities.
Commentaires