The Attitude of Gratitude

The concept of being thankful.

I am writing this while I’m 10,000ft above the sea level, overlooking a snow mountain range and breathing absolutely unfiltered air. My concept of Gratitude now and my concept of Gratitude not being here would be the same.

Gratitude makes us as ‘ideal’ as human beings can be. It allows us to be content with a simple life, to love people around us, and to have time to develop self-discipline and self-respect. It is a value that cannot be learned; it must be practiced to be understood.

We all experience gratitude, usually during our happiest moments. The magic of gratitude, though, is that it can be consciously applied to most scenarios.

• When eating a meal, savour each bite.
• When speaking with someone, listen with your full attention.
• When meditating, breathe each breath with pure mind.

We tend to forget things to be grateful for .

I like to think of this like a road trip. It’s important to concentrate on the road and also to enjoy the sights rather than obsessively fantasise about the destination.

Gratitude is essential for a life of mindfulness and contentment. Most of us learn this through trial and error (At least I did).

The mind that it always fixated on acquiring more and more neglects what it has. The greedy person lives in a perpetual state of inadequacy. But the mind that redirects this energy inward experiences something different and remarkable. In this sense, gratitude is the inverse of greed. When we admire the people around us, our safety, health and simple pleasures, we become happier people. When we have respect for life and for the meager tasks of daily life, we experience joy. When we are always thirsting for the future, we miss out on life and cause waste, suffering, and frustration.

It’s a design flaw in my own DNA that I’ve been open about. I’m so focused on the future that sometimes, I am not fully living in the present or worse, taking advantage of the past. The thing is, though, in recent months, I’ve been able to fix this by understanding more about my own goals, my own motivations, what makes me tick.

That is the impact that I have been able to make for others, and most importantly of all, the amount of gratitude that I have deep inside to those who have gone above and beyond for me, and how I want to do nothing more than every single day return that favour to everyone that I can.

Think about it seriously, You could have more, but you could also have less.

So why are we so focused on things that we don’t have instead of focusing on things that we do have? The clothes that we own, the job that we have, the amazing colleagues that we work with, our family members who would do anything for us, our friends who never fail to make us smile (even while being sarcastic). Look around you and be grateful for everything.

If you do not know where to start, Here is a quick 5 minute activity to start with:

1. Recognising what we are grateful for,
2. Acknowledging it, and lastly,
3. Appreciating it.

In other words, appreciation is the final component and the last stage in the gratitude process.

You could be grateful for literally anything, The running water in your tap, the food in your fridge, the breeze, the roof above your head, and so many more things!

START by appreciating the things that you have in your life to increase the inflow of things that you want! :)

Let me know in the comments section how do you feel !