Remembering Gratitude

Today I was speaking with another therapist and he was sharing a story of struggle and at the end stated, “At least I’m not dead.” I was blown away in the moment of truth in that statement. Truly, we ALWAYS have something to be grateful for in our lives. Yes, I know that bad things can happen and I am not denying that at times in our lives it can become almost impossible to find things which we can be thankful of. However, despite those thoughts, the truth is that each and every one of us can find things to hold onto in our lives. If we are still breathing and alive then the least we can do is practice gratitude in simple joys of life.
However, let’s get real for a second. If you are reading this article then you either have a computer or have access to a computer. So I am going to go out on a limb and say that you most likely have a place to sleep, food to eat, clothes to wear or maybe have a car to drive. So you are most likely to have a multitude of things to praise and be thankful to God/Allah/Universe or whomever for each day!

In thinking about gratitude, I personally find it helpful to break it down into two kinds: Life Gratitudes & Daily Gratitudes (self-made labels).

Life Gratitudes by my own definition are those things that you would pick out first when you reflect back at your entire life.
I have sat at many a Thanksgiving dinner/pre-Thanksgiving parties and heard people discuss their Life Gratitudes… “I am thankful for my family, for my kids, for my home, for food, etc.” These are all awesome things to have the opportunity to be grateful for overall. I find that when we stop taking time out to acknowledge these blessings in our lives, the universe will make sure to take out time to start messing with these areas of our lives in order to get us to pay attention and be thankful for all the simple pleasures that life offers. So please continue to honor your Life Gratitudes daily!!

However, what about the rest of our lives and things we come into contact with each day? Are we taking out the time to be grateful for those small elements that make up each moment of our day?

I have recently reinvested in a practice that I often give to my therapy and coaching clients and suggest that if you are reading this, then you give it a try too. It’s simple, every morning and/or evening think of 3 things that you are grateful for in your life. Sounds easy enough? But the trick is that you cannot repeat something that you have said in the past. This makes you learn to be grateful for that hot cup of coffee or the sunshine coming through the trees in such a perfect angle or even the opportunity to face a challenge because you know you are growing. It forces you to open your eyes and heart up throughout the day to the beauty that life is offering.
In taking a few minutes each day to honor yourself and your glorious world, it is amazing to see how your perspective in life shifts. You start finding that your practice begins to follow you around throughout the day and it begins to spontaneously happen without much effort. You are sending positive energy into the universe and so it bounces back to you in abundance.

Personally, I have been doing some major self-growth work recently and expanding myself in a variety of ways. It sounds fantastic (and is), but the part I did not expect was that with growth there are often accompanied growing pains! You can’t shake your life up completely and not expect some internal or exte
al turmoil to take place. My point in sharing this is that I have to make an extra-special effort to be grateful for those growing pains and the times that things don’t feel fantastic because on the other side of those growing pains is more joy. We all learn the hard way, I don’t want to stop growing and evolving, so that requires the growing pains. It’s all made much easier when I can take a second to adjust my perspective and be grateful for growth instead of sitting constantly in the “difficulty” of growth.

As a therapist and a coach, I have found that people often forget to be grateful for those small elements in our daily lives and tend to have difficulty being thankful for the struggles. Heck, as a human being, I often forget to be grateful for those things as well! Yet, it is so very important to finding happiness in our lives to help us build a better world. It’s all about changing perspectives. It won’t change the circumstances, but it just may make it more bearable in the moment. Also, gratitude tends to be contagious, so you really could start changing your world!!

Take time each day to focus on both Life Gratitudes and Daily Gratitudes and watch your life fill with joy, abundance and love.