Do you ever feel the power of thankfulness?
Are you satisfied with life?
Do you have everything you dream about?
Could it be better?
Or do you feel that something is missing – or that you are about to lose something?
No matter how you experience your situation, I will in this post help you how to maintain a state of thankfulness – appreciate what you already have and be guided to have a more satisfying life.
You have everything you dream about…
Seriously, you have!
Try to think about it.
At some point in your life, you actually dreamed of all the things and stuff you have today.
Whether it is your home or your car, at some point in your life you have hoped that one day you owned what you dreamed of.
We adapt quickly to changes and that is not always the best. In some situations, we can thus be quick to forget the joy of, for example, when we bought a new car – or why we so desperately wanted us a certain thing in the first place? Sometimes we adapt our current circumstances too quickly. We can be sad or complacent about what we already have and forget our thankfulness.
When you try reach a need in your life, it often starts as a wish. It is the excitement of the hunt if you want something enough. But if you lose interest in the item then you are not able to run to the moon and back for it. Before you know it, your laptop is old, your new phone is no longer the latest model, and our relationship with it no longer matters.
Or…. Have you thought – maybe it is your thoughts about the object that have no meaning?
Change your perspective. Your attitude to gratitude is important because it will change your perspective on things.
“Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.” – Victor Frankl
You can’t control, what is going on in your life, but you can always control what you feel and feel how things affect you.
There is always something to be grateful for.
Also, if you are in the most difficult circumstances. If nothing else, there is always a reason to be grateful for life.
Our biggest lessons in life are usually the most painful
So, we have to learn to be grateful for both what makes us sad and what makes us happy, because both teach us something.
Appreciate this moment.
Live in and for the moment. Accept the things and your surroundings and let go of them again. The ability to be thankful for your life and everything that follows in this specific moment is one of the greatest gifts you have.
If you find it difficult appreciating this specific moment, because you can’t think of anything in particular or find it difficult being thankful, then think back to the time where the internet, TV and smart-phones didn’t exist.
Nothing stays the same. Things come and co. Therefore, it is important to develop a spirit of thankfulness towards ”what’s here, right now”.
Be grateful for what you have now, since nothing lasts forever.
Be aware that gratitude is easy.
Gratitude is not difficult, it’s easy. Take a look at everything you own.
Do you have a place to stay?
Do you have shoes on your feet?
Can you easily grab some food and a drink?
Experience the feeling of gratitude on a daily basis. You will be surprised on how many things you can be grateful for. And it will change your life.
Write a simple list of all the things you were grateful for today.
An exercise to help you maintain your thankfulness:
- Create a list of all the things you have now that have not always been part of your life. This is the beginning of your gratitude-list. The list can include everything from the big things in life to the smaller and more trivial things. For example, you may have access to the Internet, that you have a job, etc. Also, write something on the list that you once wanted, and that you thought would make your life better.
- Create a new list of all the times when you remember that you were sick, angry, down, etc. Remember how you felt? Do you remember what made you feel better? Do you also remember the moment when things were okay again? Write down all the unpleasant things and if possible; how were they solved? Maybe you can gradually see a pattern here. When your situation changes, there has been a shift in your mindset. What did you learn from your bad experiences? (Also, write this down)
- Now make a third and last list. This list must include what you have learned from the two previous lists (Lists 1 and 2). Write everything down you are grateful for in your life. It takes some time and requires you to examine your life in detail. You can easily find that your final list is very different from your original list and that you actually have a lot to be thankful for right now. After the last step 3 you will already have begun to see your life in a new perspective. It is the power of working with thankfulness.
Enjoy <3
