Many of us stay stuck in the past, continuously looking backward and living that pain of rejection over and over. To reach our goals, we must move forward with and utilize the strengths we do have. Focus on what you have been given by the world. Simply being grateful for being alive is a great way to motivate oneself to seize the day. Tomorrow is not guaranteed, and this perspective can be a strong motivator for some people to let go of what isn’t working and be grateful for what is. The benefits of practicing gratitude can help shift the way one looks at the world in a positive way.
The great American essayist and poet Ralph Waldo Emerson has this to say about gratitude: “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.”
Gratitude stimulates our emotions. It diminishes feelings of resentment, creates memories that bring comfort and nourishes us back from stress. A grateful emotion sparks when we recognize an act of kindness directed towards us. Those who
are ungrateful are less likely to see acts of compassion, even if a loving environment surrounds them. Those who develop an attitude of gratitude are more likely to observe an atmosphere of kindness.
Here are three ways to cultivate gratitude:
- What are you grateful for? Write it down.
- How can you practice gratitude every day?
- How does your body respond when you feel grateful?
Build memories that fulfill your soul. There are ways our memories change over time. We can remember things as worse than they actually occurred, as being greater or quicker, people as acting helpful or destructive, and as being more or less appealing. Gratitude actually transforms any of our dull or even negative recollections into positive ones. Champions have the guts to recognize that we didn’t get to where we are all on our own – that without others and a higher power we may never have made it. They are thankful for even the hard moments and find the silver lining or the lesson that they use for empowerment.