“Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness.”
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is showing thankfulness for the things in life that are positive or valuable to you. Taking a moment to notice and admit the things you’re grateful for each day can illume your outlook, boost your spirit, and help you feel more optimistic in facing tricky situations.
While it’s easy to feel joy after winning that football match or receiving a hike in your salary at work, gratitude extends to the little blessings that are often neglected or taken for granted. Even the tiniest moments, such as a small chat with your friend, a kind gesture from an outsider, a cool breeze on a sunny day, or a tranquil walk in a garden, are things you can be thankful for.
Whatever your situation, you may find that invariably showing gratitude can be surprisingly tricky. Many of us become victims of negative emotions quickly, where we abide by awful news and unpleasant incidents yet allow moments of goodness to fade into the shadow.
Fortunately, gratitude is like your spiritual muscle that you can build with exercise and patience. You can find at least a small thing to appreciate on even the bleakest day. You can use gratitude to uplift your outlook, find positivity from negativity, foster stronger connections, and even change how you view yourself.
Benefits of practising gratitude
A little gratitude can do marvels for your mood. When you practice gratitude, you shift your views away from negative feelings and uncomfortable senses. Instead, you focus on good things you may have missed.
Approaching life with a positive attitude can do more than just enhance your mood. It can have cascading advantages in other areas of your life, such as:
Better sleep. Some research links improved gratitude with higher-quality sleep and fewer sleep disruptions. This might be because voicing gratitude right before bed permits you to fall asleep with a positive stance.
Improved focus. Gratitude may make it easier for you to focus. If you begin to see the task in front of you — be it homework or job duties — positively, you spend less energy feeling worried about it. You might even begin to view hardships, such as an important interview, as opportunities rather than burdens. This can improve your emotional health as well.
Higher self-esteem. Viewing the world around you with a sense of gratitude can change how you think about your value. Imagine that your friend treats you to lunch on a hectic day. As you express your appreciation, you also realize that your friend is devouring time and resources on you because they value you. You then internalize the thought that you’re valuable to others.
Increased patience. The results of the 2016 research seemed to reveal that people who regularly voice gratitude are more patient. So, practice gratitude if you want to increase self-control and lessen whimsicality.
These are the myriad benefits of gratitude. Thus, it is always necessary to be thankful for the things and emotions we feel because everything has its reason unknown to us. Thus, if you are happy, be grateful for this happiness.