Gratitude
Gratitude
There is an old Christian hymn written by Johnson Oatman Jr. And one line of the song
says ‘Count your blessings name them one by one’. Later on the song says that counting your blessings will surprise you. The truth is unless you stop to think of the good in your life you could easily be convinced that your life is much less than ideal.
Meik Wiking in his book ‘The Little Book of Hygge’, said in regards to gratitude “this might be as good as it gets” and what a true statement this is. If you don’t count your blessings you may never realise how amazing your life is. You may never get to savour your little slice of heaven on earth. Life is unpredictable and fragile. Each day is a gift. So stop for a moment, breathe, relish in the beauty that is your life. It may not be perfect but recognising the simple blessings and being grateful for them will open you up to more abundance. Research shows that grateful people are happier, less stressed and healthier than others.
In the first week of January 2015 my family and I began a gratitude tradition. Every Friday night we have a special dinner and at the end of dinner we share with each other what we are truly grateful for from the week. It’s special. It encourages us to count our blessings, and sometimes we get to share things which we would otherwise never have thought about, far more shared with each other. We have gained so much from this practice.
It is reported that the practice of gratitude increases our level of happiness because of the way it positively impacts aspects of our lives such as our emotions, social life, health, personality, and career trajectory. Gratitude isn’t about ignoring the negative things which may have happened. Instead it is more about dwelling on the positives and giving that more significance in our lives than the negatives. You will be amazed what it can do.
So why not begin practising gratitude today. Pause for a while at the end of the day or maybe even at the start of the day to notice and reflect upon the things that you are grateful for.
Practice gratitude every day.
