Gratitude is one of many positive emotions. Focus on what you are grateful for and think of all the reasons why.
Has the busyness of life prevented you from stopping and remembering the many things and people you have to be thankful for? A hectic schedule and greedy society can make it challenging to express your gratitude this time of year, but did you know that gratitude is good for you?
It is! And in more ways than one. With Meru Mentor as your holistic life mentor, we can help you discover how.
Learning to overcome the challenges that keep you from expressing your thanks will have a long-lasting impact on you and those around you.
What are the Benefits of Gratitude?
Finding ways to be more thankful is one of the best ways you can overcome the many stressors of life.
Research shows that giving thanks can actually make you happier. In one study, psychologists Dr. Robert A. Emmons and Dr. Michael E. McCullough found that after 10 weeks, participants who focused on writing about what they were grateful for during the week were more optimistic and felt better about their lives than those who did not. Although this study is not conclusive, they even found that these participants were also more likely to exercise more frequently and visit a physician less.
The effects that gratitude has on your brain and mental health are significant, but it can also impact your interactions with others:
Turn Negative Feelings into Positive Ones
When you find yourself falling into a slump and nothing seems to be going the way you had hoped, it’s easy to just give into that feeling. However, it’s important to keep in mind that your negative mood will affect those you care about most, whether you want it to or not.
Think back to the last time your spouse fell into those negative feelings. Although they did not intend to bring you down, you likely felt the weight of their burden too.
Choosing to express gratitude whenever the opportunity arises will help you manage negative feelings and pave the way to turn them into positive ones.
Show Love More Compassionately
Intentionally finding reasons to be grateful for someone will force our minds into thinking about the good rather than the negative. We have all been in a situation where we don’t particularly enjoy the people we are with, but that shouldn’t be our focus.
Think of one or two positive and good things about those people and choose to be thankful for them instead. This will drastically improve your experience as well as allow you to show love more compassionately.
Give Us Purpose to Be Better
Gratitude gives us a purpose to be better people and serve those around us. Having a thankful heart will transform the way we live and love those around us.
Create a Gratitude Journal
One thing is for sure — nothing negative ever came from being thankful. One way to remember to be grateful is to create a gratitude journal! You can use any plain notebook to journal to write down a few things that you are thankful for.
Balancing the Positive and Negative Feelings with Meru
Throughout different seasons of your life, you will find that it may be easier to express your gratitude. In the coaching and mentoring program from Meru Mentor, we will help you navigate these ups and downs of life as well as give you the tools you need to continue navigating life’s challenges long after the mentorship program has ended. Interested in finding freedom from the negativity of life and turning it into something good? Let’s talk about how we can help!