Exploring The Gratitude Mindset
A gratitude mindset in simplicity is focusing on the positives rather than the negatives, a focus that in turn attracts further positive things to you.
We commonly talk about practising gratitude, writing down the x3 things you're grateful for each day or being aware of the abundance in your life whether big or small, but what about passing that gratitude along to all the people and things you connect with.
Have you heard of the practice of saying thank you? This is one of the most profound ways to live in a gratitude mindset.
American author and lecturer A.J. Jacobs, frequently trials lifestyle experiments on himself. One day he was inspired to thank every person that made his morning cup of coffee - from his barista, to the company that makes the coffee, the truck driver that delivers the coffee beans and so on. He found that by being aware and being grateful of all the people who have played a part in whatever we are experiencing we see everyone as humans with unique stories & perspectives rather than just an irrelevant step in the motions of our day. We become aware of how connected we all are and in turn more connected.
Another concept is saying thank you silently in your mind throughout the day for all the small things. No matter how busy you are, no matter where you are, there is always an opportunity to do this. A silent thank you for the first sip of your morning coffee, thank you for a green traffic light, thank you when your favourite songs plays, thank you for sunshine or even rain.
What makes this so powerful is that gratitude not only is the source of happiness but it sparks action. Gratitude makes you want to pay it forward, to create action either on a small or big scale to all those involved in your daily chain and beyond.
Working towards a gratitude mindset will not always be easy or appealing, no daily practise can ever be that, and it also doesn’t call for you to repress your emotions either but instead consciously making the decision to live in a grateful perspective no matter what the situation.
It’s just as important to practise a gratitude mindset in a challenging situation, after all if you’re only grateful & happy when things are going smoothly you’re going to feel a lot of overwhelm when things don’t go as expected. A gratitude mindset brings abundance and greater wellbeing while being able to reduce feelings of envy, depressive feelings and anxiety.
We hope this inspires you to say genuine thanks to the people and things in your life today and feel the impact of gratitude. We’re thankful to have you as part of our AOL community.