How To Nurture A Grateful Mindset

In a world that’s constantly trying to push you into more worry, consumerism and other challenges of our time, feeling grateful can be a wonderfully resistant act.

Gratefulness fills your heart with a warm, fuzzy feeling. You feel at peace with your being and the current state of your life. You quiet the critical voice in your mind.

Anger tires us and makes us blame things or other people because it’s such a hard feeling to cope with. Anger leaves us enact. Unable to move things forward. Self-doubt makes even smaller actions seem harder to take and draws goals further.

Positive thinking in a non-toxic way can do wonders for your emotional wellbeing.

“Be grateful for what you have and be ready to share it when the time comes.”
- Michelle Obama

Here are 5 ways you can implement more gratitude into your daily life:

Pause and practice gratitude for the present moment.

Lao Tzu famously once said “If you’re depressed, you’re living in the past. If you’re anxious, you’re living in the future. If you’re at peace, you’re living in the present”

Researchers observed even in the nature of water, when it is said nice, positive words, there is an observed change in the molecules in water. If positive talk can create changes in the molecules, just think about all that it could do for you — and remind you, we’re 70% water!

Tell someone you love them and how much you appreciate them.

Like Beatles said “Loooove, loove, love is all you need”, saying to our loved ones how much they matter to us feels good. It fills both you and them with warmness in your hearts.

Keep a gratitude journal and write every day.

List a number of reasons every day why you are grateful. It can be just as simple “Today I appreciate the sun in my window” or “I’m grateful for having warm cup of tea this morning”. The more you write, the more you’ll notice how many things you have to be grateful for!

Make a gratitude collage.

Think about all the people and things you’re grateful for in your life and assemble their photos onto a board. You can put your board up to a place where you see every day and it will help you feel more positive!

Commit to a consistent practice.

The tricky part is that gratefulness doesn’t come as easily as complaining. Surely, it takes training the mind consistently every day, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Gratefulness gains momentum the more you practice it.
However works best for you,

Morning and night time are the best for your gratefulness practice.

Right when you wake up and just before you go to sleep, your subconscious mind is open at its highest levels. Engaging in practices where you remind yourself of all the good you have in your life can wonderfully shape your mind for the better!

Engage in a cause you believe in.

Whether it is to support a cause you believe in or your favorite local small business, you have your own personal network and you never know how much you can do with it! Helping others can also help you cope better with the current lockdown.

Allow yourself the freedom to be human.

It ties back to positive self-talk but allowing yourself a little more flexibility with your daily goals and practice can go a long way. Honestly, you are the critical voice in your own head and nobody has got life entirely figured out! We all need to grumble sometimes and cannot be positive for days. Don’t worry if you realize you’ve fallen back into old habits- growth is not a linear process! It’s okay to fall back but you’ll come back again. Real champions are the ones who keep giving it a shot. You can find compassion in yourself to pick yourself back up.

Remember, if you didn’t have the gratefulness practice routine you wanted today, there’s always tomorrow.