Let’s talk about gratefulness today.
I am grateful.
Of the simple things. Of the difficult things.
It’s difficult to be grateful for difficult things. Why should I be grateful when I am stuck in traffic? Why should I feel grateful when someone is rude to me, or cuts me off in the grocery store?
It’s all to easy to look at life’s little challenges and feel downtrodden. It can often seem that the world is out to get us: our rent is late, the cat is lost, my child won’t stop demanding game consoles I cannot afford. It’s a daily struggle to keep your chin up,.
But, as I’ve found in my happiness coaching, gratefulness allows us to flip each negative moment into a positive one.
A grateful heart and an open mind are just gateways to happiness.
If a person is rude to me, I am grateful that I am alive to experience their anger.
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
Oprah Winfrey
Practicing gratefulness can sometimes be hard. But the reward is a positive shift in your thought process. If you can figure out some way to be grateful for the current situation you are in, you can practice new ways of thinking.
“Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”
Robert Brault
Try To Be Grateful For One Thing Right Now
It can be anything. It can be the shoes on your feet or the water flowing through your tap. It could be the pretty drawing your child made, or the smell of the pine trees out your window.
It could even be the person who cut you off this morning. It could be the barista who has made your coffee wrong five times in a row.
Finding gratefulness in everyday, ordinary experiences allows us to open up our minds to the bigger picture. It creates a sense of calm, a positive outlook, and encourages happiness.
So try it today. Try it right now.
What are you grateful for?
I’m grateful for the opportunity to share my happiness coaching wisdom. I truly believe we can all be happy. It just takes a little bit of practice, a little bit of time, and just a smidgen of gratefulness.