What Are You Grateful For and Why Does Gratitude Matter?
Gratitude is the key to everything good and great.
I’ll bet that you can easily point to things that you’re lacking.
You might have insufficient money, debt, relationship problems, aren’t thin enough, can’t satisfy familial expectations, and so on. Your home isn’t big enough, your car isn’t new enough, tech is outdated, and so forth.
There is nobody to blame for this, per se. But it should come as no surprise given that we live in a fear-based society. Often, the fear of missing out (what has been renamed/rebranded as FOMO), fear of suffering, and fear of appearing to be lacking are beamed into your brain everywhere you turn.
Radio, social media, tv, billboards, and everywhere there’s advertising will tell you if you don’t buy this product or that service, you’ll miss out, suffer, and appear lacking. Get it/do it or you will suffer unimaginable consequences!
The truth is that, for the most part, we need a lot fewer goods and services than we think we do. Sure, it can be nice to have those things – but at what cost? People stress out, overwork, and freak out because of the suffering they most fear that will result from missing out or appearing to lack.
Unless you live in a cave, are off the grid, or utterly avoid the modern world – this is frequently bombarding you. And if you are not practicing mindfulness and conscious awareness, this is impacting your subconscious mind. That means it can seep into your habits, beliefs, and values.
But you can counter it. And it’s relatively easy. All you need is gratitude.
But first, let’s talk about the real fear that’s the elephant in the room.
Suffering is what you most fear
It doesn’t matter what the fear is – most fear is less about the thought or feeling you’re afraid of and more about suffering resulting from it. More often than not, the suffering you fear is far worse than what actually will occur.
What does that look like? Let’s say that there have been layoffs at your work. The boss has been calling everyone into the office to tell them if they have a job or are being let go.
Fearing that you will be laid off, you imagine how you’ll suffer. The bills will pile up, you’ll lose the respect of your friends and family, you’ll never find a job that pays as well, and your whole world will come crashing down if you’re fired.
Yes, that’s terrifying. But chances are – if you get laid off, it won’t be nearly so bad. Nobody is going to disrespect you, you can file for unemployment, you can apply for a better job with better pay, and the world keeps turning as it has been even if you get laid off. It will suck, but it’s not nearly as bad as you most feared.
Fear of suffering tends to focus on worst-case scenarios. Since worst-case scenarios are literally the worst – of course, you envision horrific suffering as a result.
When you allow your subconscious mind to do the driving, fear gets an open door to walk through. But when you choose to be consciously aware and work with mindfulness – you can actively counter fear.
How? Gratitude is the ultimate counter to fear.
The power of gratitude
Gratitude is one of the most powerful tools you have to counter fear. By being grateful for anything – tangible or intangible – you chase fear in the same way that turning on a light chases away darkness.
How does this work? Gratitude is empowering, when given and received, while fear is disempowering.
To be fair – there are times fear can give you the necessary fuel to make changes and do necessary things. But that’s also a matter of mindfulness, and gratitude for the impetus to change is additionally empowering.
Why is gratitude so powerful? Because whether given or received, gratitude is ALWAYS positive. Always.
Real, genuine, true gratitude is a blend of thought, feeling, intent, and action that’s positive. It is one of the only things I can think of that’s a construct of every element of mindfulness.
Let’s say you’re grateful for a person. Thinking about them makes you feel good and thanking them (action) shares that they make you feel that way (intent).
Given or received, gratitude is positive. Your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intentions align to face the positive end of the flexible cylinder between the extremes (negative and positive).
When you say or hear “thank you”, and it’s real, it will always create a positive experience.
That’s why gratitude is both powerful and empowering. And expressing it can help put you in a better place mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Express what you’re grateful for frequently
There’s a simple, universal truth at work here. When you give gratitude, you get gratitude.
Hence, when you express gratitude for the things you have – tangible or intangible – you draw more things to you to be grateful for.
This is conscious reality creation in its purest, most unadulterated form.
When you see lack, scarcity, and insufficiency – and give it energy and attention – it will dominate your consciousness. But when you use your mindfulness to be thankful, here and now, for what you have – that is abundance energy that will draw more abundance to you.
Most of all – there is nothing bad about being grateful and giving thanks. For anything. Gratitude is only positive, and that can go a long way towards you having more amazing, incredible life experiences – and build your life how you most desire it to be.
Think, feel, and say thank you frequently, joyfully, wholeheartedly, and unreservedly. Allow gratitude to flow – because giving it will get it in return. And you are worthy and deserving of whatever you’re working to create for your life.
Thank you.
Expressing gratitude for anything tangible or intangible isn’t hard
It’s all about working with mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, and intentions to direct your actions.
When you say thank you, and genuinely give gratitude for what you already have – tangible and/or intangible – you create more things to be grateful for. Knowing gratitude is an always positive conscious reality creator, you can be more thankful and find and/or create even more to be grateful for.
This empowers you – and in turn, your empowerment can empower others around you. That can expand to change the bigger picture matters, too.
Choosing for yourself employs positivity for realizing amazing potential and possibilities for your life.
Taking an approach to positivity and negativity – from the vast cylinder that exists between them – shifts matters in a way to open more dialogue. In that form, you can explore and share where you are between the extremes and how that impacts you here and now.
Lastly, the better aware you are of yourself in the now, the more you can do to choose and decide how your life experiences will be. When that empowers you, it can also open those around you to their own empowerment.
To me, that’s a worthwhile endeavor to explore and share.
Thank you for coming along on this journey.
This is the four hundred-and-fifty-ninth entry of my Positivity series. I hope that these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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