Do you remember the gratitude challenge that went viral on social media a couple of years ago? Someone was challenged over a period of 7 days, to come up with 3 or 4 things they are grateful for each day. They had to nominate someone else. Some of it made pretty compelling reading. I remember this challenge vividly, in the end when I was nominated, I did one long blog post, as it seemed too onerous to do it every day.
I have noticed that gratefulness is very high on the social conscious at the moment. There are books on it, just type it into amazon, you will be amazed at the amount of stuff the comes up. On a serious note though you need to understand just why gratitude is important. Some of the key reasons are listed below:
You are less likely to feel envy:
When you are grateful for what you have, for what you have achieved, you are less likely to experience envy. You will have an innate understanding of how the universe works, and will not rate your success against anyone else.
You are less focused on what you don’t have:
This is really key in my opinion. I am not just talking about material things here, although it has to be said that gratefulness will make you less materialistic. When you want to move forward, be it in your career, you want to lose weight, you want to grow your business, its really important that you are accepting of where you currently are.
Where you want to be may be far away from where you are currently, and if you are busy focusing on where you want to be you may get a bit confused ( or a lot) and trip up, or to put it another way if you are gazing longingly at the top stair on a staircase you may trip over the first step. Does that make sense? ( let me know in the comments please. )
You will be more resilient:
In difficult or challenging times, this is important as it will help you to stay focused, worry less and stay focused on what needs to be done. Its linked to focusing on what you don’t have, but it also means the you will spend less time in the challenging period and indeed you are likely to be more creative in dealing with your issue.
There are probably more reasons but the last reason for me
Why Gratitude is important
Is that given all of the above will make you happier. When you are happier, you are less likely to be stressed and as you can see the knock on benefits are quite numerous.
Ok, who can recall the film, Pollyanna? In that film Pollyanna, the original goody two shoes was alway grateful and taught a whole town how to be so too, with her glad game. A game in which when you felt bad you thought of something you could be glad about. When the missionary sent her a pair of crutches instead of a doll, Pollyanna was glad she did not have to use the crutches.
3 quick ways you can be grateful
- Pay attention and be mindful of things around you, nature, people you will be surprised at what you have not noticed before.
- Keep a gratitude Journal. It could be one or two things you are grateful for each day.
- Be charitable, recognise that you have more than others.
What are you grateful for today? I would really love to hear, do let me know in the comments, or drop me a line at
Whatever you are doing, where ever you are, do have a fabulous day. Be kind to yourself, and don’t forget to choose happiness.
Much love