Gratitude has great benefits, from enhancing our mental wellbeing to strengthening our connections with others. The practise of gratitude enhances our awareness of the better and optimistic in our lives, allowing us to appreciate the things we otherwise take for granted. It is not difficult to increase your capacity for gratitude. It simply takes practise. The more you can direct your attention to what you are appreciative for, the more things you will notice becoming more grateful.
Gratitude is a practise that can have a profound and long-term impact on our quality of life. The small amount of time required is well worth the effort, and with consistent practise, gratitude can become a healthy routine that pervades your life. When we concentrate on gratitude, we promote the growth of many other healthy habits within ourselves. And these practises assist us in cultivating health and happiness not only for ourselves, but also for fellow humans. When we handle ourselves with positivity, others with it can implement that energy and emit it on towards and outward to the next person, and the next, and the next.
Gratitude Meditation
Gratitude meditation is the practice of achieving gratitude as a habit through mindful meditation. This practice is not bound to a certain time or place. You can practice gratitude meditation whenever and whenever you like. Gratitude is not just about being thankful for everything in your life, rather, it is much more than that. Practicing gratitude teaches you to find light and gratefulness even in the hardest circumstances.
The benefits of gratitude meditation are immeasurable. It heals you from within. Practicing gratitude meditation will expand your vision and improve your overall mental and physical well being. According to studies, gratitude is consistently and positively linked to higher feelings of joy and well-being. It’s normal to get engrossed in the constant stress and frustration of everyday life, but these things and situations are not the determinants of our personality and lives. Our perspective and lifestyle is not dependent on how much stress we experience. Grateful meditation does not seek to accustom us to suffering or social inequality; rather, it aims to bring us back to a place of self growth.
How to practice gratitude with mindfulness
Practicing mindfulness can bring life changing effects on your mental and physical health. The more habitual to gratitude meditation, the easier it gets for you to enjoy every phase of your life. You start noticing the small victories you achieve everyday. It encourages you to wake up everyday with hope and enlightenment. Each of these brief moments adds up to form a web of happiness that, over time, reinforces your ability to recognize the good. Here are some of the most simple yet effective gratitude meditation practices to get you started with your journey.
- Observe: Whenever you thank someone for any kind of service, whether it be a help in your report or a simple caring gesture, notice what sensations you feel. The sense of appreciation you feel for that person is what comes out as a thank you from your heart. Observing the changes in your mood will help you get more familiar with the concept of gratitude.
- Stay composed in tough times: Whenever life hits you with a difficult situation, you must remember the good things in your life. Losing your cool can cause more damage than you think. That is why you should ponder over the people who have helped you through such times before. This will help you get calm and relaxed. Appreciating the help you’ve gotten will bring you a sense of gratitude for the good things in your life, even in rough circumstances.
- Be grateful to yourself: Appreciating what you do for yourself is also a part of grateful meditation practices. The way your organs work 24/7 to keep you healthy, the small rewards you give to yourself, the efforts you put in keeping your mind and body healthy must all be noticed and appreciated.
- Thank your environment: As much as it is important to thank yourself, you must also take the services that nature and your environment provides you with into consideration. Affirming gratefulness towards them can help you become more aware of your surroundings. It will also help you achieve gratitude on a whole another level.
- Learn from the bad: In order to grow, you need to learn from your bad experiences. Similarly, if you want to achieve a sense of gratification, you must remember the bad times in your life to appreciate the good ones. Every person and incident teaches you a lesson. You must let go of the hurt, but keep the lessons it taught you forever. When you recall how you suffered and how you’re at a better place now, you compel your mind to absorb the gratefulness you feel at the moment.
- Maintain a gratitude journal: Try to write down the things or people you are grateful for in a journal everyday. This will help you in building up a pile of things that you appreciate. Make it a daily habit to notify yourself of the gifts, graciousness, rewards, and wonderful life you have. Remembering instances of gratitude linked with natural phenomena, personal characteristics, or important people in your life allows you to weave a lasting theme of gratitude into your existence.
Including gratitude meditation practices in your lifestyle will change your life in ways you’d never expect. Gratification and mindfulness are two sides of the same coin. They also work towards the same goal, which is to make us healthier and happier from inside out.
Gratitude means allowing us to acknowledge our many gifts while distracting us from our many miseries. Mindfulness teaches us how to respond to adversity with grace, acceptance, and meditation. These two practises, when combined, foster the joyful self inside us. These two aspects of our lives go hand in hand in making us a better version of our own self. There is nothing like too much gratification or too much mindfulness. These aspects are meant to be explored with as much passion and acknowledgement.
