Gratitude

“Fill the earth with your songs of gratitude.” – Charles Spurgeon.

In times like this when we are faced with difficulties or challenges, we are often quick to forget our numerous blessings and focus rather on all that is going wrong. It also seems like common practice to always be in a competition to see who has it worse. I don’t know about you, but I want to try focus on the good in each situation.

This topic is very closely related to my post on enjoying the little things. Gratitude and the enjoyment of life go hand in hand, it’s really hard to have one without the other.

I feel this is more evident now than ever before, that we can look back at all the things we took for granted pre-lockdown and realise how privileged we were to walk around without restriction or fear. To be able to gather with friends without a thought or go to the shops without having to wear a mask and worrying about our health. So often it is moments like this that bring to our awareness how much we take for granted and how little gratitude we may show at times. I hope even when this time has passed, we will learn to appreciate the little things and find gratitude.

“It’s a funny thing about life, once you begin to take note of the things you are grateful for, you begin to lose sight of the things you lack.” – Germany Kent

I don’t think we need to wait until all of this has passed in order to start being grateful again, there is still so much to be thankful for. Just take a walk in the morning, breathe in the fresh air and appreciate all the beautiful sights and sounds all around you.

“What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude.” – Brene Brown

It has been suggested in a variety of psychological studies that gratefulness has the ability to boost our levels of happiness and fosters greater physical and psychological health. By learning to exercise gratitude, even in small things, we can actually improve our health and happiness.

We live in a consumer culture in which happiness and success are based on material wealth and what you own. We have been taught to constantly want… Our possessions have become our source of happiness… And this can never last as there is always something bigger and better. This has made an attitude of gratitude hard to cultivate, and we need to change this.

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognising and appreciating what we do have.” Frederick Keonig.

We can start fostering a sense of gratitude by noticing the goodness in life (May need a perspective change). Take some time to thank someone and let them know what they mean to you. Pause and reflect on the numerous blessings in your life, however small.

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.” – Melody Beattie.

So often we only want to be grateful for the very obvious blessings. We need to begin to see hardships and difficulties as a reason to be grateful as well. Often through these times we learn, grow and become more resilient than before. Had we not had these difficulties and challenges in life we would not have had the opportunity to stretch ourselves and become more like the version of ourselves that we would want to be. This too we need to be grateful for. Having gratitude can change obstacles and difficulties into opportunities for positivity.

“Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

It is not happiness that helps cultivate a sense of gratitude, it is gratitude that cultivates a sense happiness within us.

Hebrews 12:28 – “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe”.