A simple practice you can start incorporating into your daily routine is a short gratitude list. Gratitude helps put your mindset into a phase of looking at the positive, and postering your heart into a place of appreciation, rather than critical observation and a deficit mindset. Why is that important in today's world?
I'll give you 3 reasons why Gratitude is important..
- Resisting the lure: There's always some lure for you to compare yourself. Whether it's another person, a fictional scene, or random posts on social media, opportunities abound in an age of marketing and sales. Gratitude helps you keep the focus on YOUR life, rather than someone else's. When you are focus on what you can do, you can make the most of every opportunity, rather than wasting time mulling over what you don't have, or how you've been wronged.
- Owning your reality: When you live from a place of gratitude, that means you can accept the positives, and challenges, rather than deflecting what you find uncomfortable. When you do this, you are less prone to be constantly in search of fantasy to make up for the negative things that you let define the narrative. We all have a choice, to define ourselves by the negatives, or the positives. At the end of the day, wouldn't you say it's better to own YOUR reality, and have the motivation to improve upon it?
- Creating positive action: It's easy to find the negatives in an imperfect world, but when you live through gratitude, that means you are on the look out for opportunity for positive change, rather than on the defense in fear. Eventually your filter will define how you respond to opportunity. Is the situation one where anything and everything could go wrong, or is it one where you can set the tone, and experience growth? We have the choice to see ourselves as someone who is capable of setting the atmosphere and building on positive change, rather than seeing ourselves as oppressed and without agency.
"We have the choice to see ourselves as someone who is capable of setting the atmosphere and building on positive change, rather than seeing ourselves as oppressed and without agency."
The truth is, the reasons for gratitude can keep going on, and you can probably find your own reasons for why gratitude might be helpful. But the question of whether or not gratitude will impact your life, usually comes down to a small steps you can take a daily basis! What if instead of spending time watching fantasy on the TV or reading critical news articles, you took some time to integrate a practice of gratitude into your life, and then taught it to others?
Ready for the Activity?
In this activity we feature a gratitude chest with gratitude cards. Like all Wise-Bites, we encourage you to try this with friends and family.. or by yourself if you prefer. Materials and Instructions are included along with the printable. We've found that creating with your hands WHILE reflecting on a wisdom principle helps you solidify it, and embrace the truths, while having fun as you work with your hands. With so many things to grab our attention, what if we took a step to take the reins of our thought life, to intentionally see the world through a lens of gratitude?
