4 Reasons Why you should Start a Gratitude Journey
Sometimes we tend to overlook the importance of slowing down and being thankful for all that we have. We often tend to be a part of a race where we keep running after things we don’t have and forget to treasure what we already have. Learning the art of gratitude is more than being thankful. It is about feeling a force of positive emotion in your entire being that serves a higher-order purpose. Having an attitude of gratitude has immense benefits on your emotional, mental and physical well being and, there are many ways to achieve it. Here, we’ll discuss some life-altering benefits of gratitude which will compel you to acquire an attitude for gratitude.
1. Improves Physical and Mental Health
Showing gratitude has proved to have immense benefits on the physical and mental health of people. Grateful people lead pain-free, happy and healthy life. Moreover, people with gratitude take better care of themselves. They work out more and prefer to go for checkups regularly so they have a better life quality. Several studies have proved that being thankful lessens the accumulation of toxic emotions in the human body. It includes envy, resentment, or frustration. Gratitude is supposed to have a direct link with feelings of satisfaction and happiness, lowering depression and gloominess among people. Hence, the more gratitude you show, the better your mental and physical health will be.
2. Boosts Self Esteem
Focusing on the things you possess and showing elements of gratitude gives you positivity, uplifts your mood, and improves your overall outlook on life. If your constant focus is on things you do not have or could not achieve, you continue to dwell on unfavorable emotions like anxiety, frustration, and depression. These emotions deteriorate your self-esteem. The highest form of gratitude is to accept yourself for what you are and what you have. This sense of fulfillment yields true happiness and increases one’s self-esteem manifold.
3. Helps Us to Be More Robust
Failures and setbacks in life are inevitable. Everyone has to go through them at various stages of life. What’s important is that how you bounce back after every disappointment and lift yourself. People who can pick themselves up amidst the chaos of life are the ones who have a persistent attitude of gratitude. Gratitude makes you resilient and gives you the strength to find the silver lining in every situation. People with the highest sense of gratitude knowing that there is always something to be grateful for even when things do not go as they plan. This attitude makes them robust to face every challenge with strength and come out as invincible winners.
4. You stop comparing Yourself to Others
The habit of comparing your life to others is toxic to the point that it can ruin your mental health. This trait is damaging for your sense of self and individuality. You grow complexes and your self-confidence shatters. However, if you develop the trait of gratitude, you stop comparing yourself to others and become content with what is yours already. You are not in a rush and a sense of calm surrounds you that keeps radiating confidence and strength to make you strong.
That is one of the prime benefits of gratitude to keep you buoyant and strong.
The attitude for gratitude is the soul of mindful living that can be acquired by making conscious efforts. It can gradually change your outlook on life. Life without gratitude is worthless and, as Melody Beattie rightly puts it — “Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”