The Power of Gratitude

The power of gratitude can change your life for the better. Practicing gratitude consistently will change the way you see the world and how you interact with it.

The human condition is a very curious one. There is a phenomenon among all humans called Negativity Bias. The Negativity Bias is found in all of our interactions, relationships, and expectations.

It means we are far more aware of the negative or bad things, and far less observant of positive things. No matter what, we feel negative emotions and thoughts stronger than positive ones.

Therefore, we tend to focus on the negative, always see the negative, and look at life through a negative lens. No matter what we do, these feelings will be stronger and therefore have a stronger impact on our thoughts and actions.

We can see this when we consider phenomenon like car accidents. You may think that car accidents are frequent, simply because when you hear about them they are worrisome and negative.

But the reality is that most people are in a car accident about every 18 years. It is not as common as you would think, but because it is something negative, it sticks out in your brain more. This is the same with airline crashes, which are even more rare, but especially upsetting.

If we extrapolate this common habit, we see how people can exist entirely in a negative mind space. A negative mindset that will be continuously reinforced by focusing on the negative.

It’s probably pretty obvious why so many of us are unsatisfied, ungrateful, and uninspired in our lives. If we only notice the negative, and can’t see the positive, our lives start to revolve around that lack.

We focus on the things we don’t have, the bad things that have happened to us, and the people who dislike us. And ultimately we perpetuate this negativity onto our own lives, and become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Now that we know this is our natural inclination, we can start to retrain ourselves towards the positive. And that is where gratitude, and specifically a practice of gratitude can change the way we think and ultimately the way we live our life.

Why is gratitude important

Embracing gratitude is a powerful way to change your mindset. For example, when you are sick, you are more likely to focus on the illness. But when you are healthy, you rarely acknowledge your well being and express gratitude for your wellness. Yet you most likely experience good health every single day without ever realizing and being grateful.

But a gratitude practice can change your thought habits. And over the long term, you can redirect your mind’s eye towards the positive. Gratitude is important because it pulls you out of that negative mind space, and negative feedback loop. And replaces it with positive emotions that ground you in the present and create mindfulness and appreciation for your life and what you have already.

Gratitude is the practice of acknowledging the positives in your life, even during challenging times. It is being thankful for the things you have and the life you live in this very moment, without needing more or wanting something different.

It is the acknowledgment that you are blessed beyond belief simply for breathing and having the privilege to walk this earth. Everything on top of that is just a bonus.

Once you start to feel gratitude deep in your soul, it starts to create more things to be grateful for in your life. We know that like energies are attracted (the Law of Attraction).

So if we can create a state of appreciation and deep gratitude, we will pull more things to be grateful for towards us. Our blessings will multiply and our lives will blossom with beauty.

How gratitude effects you

Practicing gratitude can change your life, now and in the future. By expressing gratitude for the things you have and the lifestyle you live right now, makes you see and appreciate everything more. Even in hard times and challenging situations, there is always something to be grateful for.

You will quickly notice you start to see positivity and beauty in everything. New opportunities will start to show themselves, and new blessings will enter your life. And you will appreciate those new blessings even more once you start a gratitude practice.

Power of gratitude

The power of gratitude is absolutely unlimited. By changing the way you look at your life, you can see new things and make better decisions for yourself. But the most powerful change has to be the elimination of comparison.

As soon as you see your life through a lens of appreciation, you no longer have the need to see how you compare to others. Instead of stacking your life up against someone else’s, you’ll have no need to compare.

You’ll know without a doubt that your life is blessed and you have everything you need. Once you have that realization, you’ll find the need to compare simply fall away. Instead of comparing, you can appreciate other people for their blessings and life, like you appreciate your own.

And on top of all this gratitude, you will draw even more of that to yourself, manifesting the exact energy you are putting out into the world.

How to practice gratitude

The best place to start is using a simple gratitude exercise. Every night before you fall asleep think of three things you are grateful for.

Either someone, some thing, or an event that happened that day. Regardless, express your gratitude for the blessings you currently have in your life, without the feeling of need or scarcity.

Focus on seeing the world as unlimited and abundant and you can unlock the power of gratitude. There is always enough of everything to go around, and ditching the scarcity mindset will help support your new positivity and gratitude practice. To learn more about changing your scarcity mindset to one of abundance, check out our post Build an Abundance Mindset.

Other great methods are journaling, practicing affirmations, setting reminders, and creating small habits or rituals that make you stop your routine, bring you to the present, and make you grateful for your current life. To learn more about increasing gratitude check out our next post.