How grateful can you be just for having sun rays hitting your balcony a few hours of the day? Very. How grateful can you be for having the ability to go out to do sports a few hours a day? Extremely! Losing what you have makes you realize what you have always taken for granted.
Being quarantined during the pandemic was a sad way to get this lesson, but it would be even sadder if we didn’t learn that lesson. There is always something to be grateful for, even if it felt like there isn’t.
Why should I practice gratitude?
Practicing gratitude is a way to bring us back into the present moment. Bringing into our attention any physical elements that bring us joy, or feeling how we felt at a moment when someone shared an important moment with us, allows us to focus on the present moment.
The benefits of the practice extend from emotional health and positivity to the physical body.
On a physical level, gratitude practice has been shown to have tremendous positive health effects as it seems to activate the parasympathetic nervous system. That means, our body starts calming down.
Today most of us live in fear mode, the “fight-or-flight”, almost daily and this stress is the main driver of many illnesses. Through breathing, meditation, and awareness practices we can allow the body to reach a “rest” state, and start healing.
More gratitude, less attachment.
In yoga philosophy, living in an illusion of self is the reason for unhappiness. The way to come back home, back to the connection with Inner Self, can happen through meditation.
Sometimes the things we’ve lost, or that we have yet to reach, take our attention from us making us believe that is true. That’s living in an illusion. It’s being attached to what no longer exists and what is not here yet.
The only thing that’s true is the present moment, but our minds spend most of our time in the illusion, the memories of the past, or worrying about the future.
You can step away from the illusory world of desire, lack, and constantly being unsatisfied. Instead, recognize all the good that you already have in your life and find gratitude.
I’m opening my eyes to see that my happiness never depended on getting what I don’t have, but rather on understanding what I already have and starting to give it the worth it deserves.
How can I practice gratitude?
Take a moment in the morning to close your eyes and say thank you for what good you already have in your life. You can do this in many ways, such as:
- Writing a list of 10 things you’re grateful for.
- Listening to a guided gratitude meditation.
- Sitting down with eyes closed and thinking about 5 things you’re grateful for and saying ‘thank you for…’
Remember the gratitude given to you
In his podcast The science of gratitude and how to build a gratitude practice*, Dr. Andrew Huberman explains the scientific studies done on gratitude practice and how this finding was made.
Interestingly, he explains that remembering a time when someone else was grateful to you and expressing their gratitude to you, seems to be one of the most powerful ways to wake up positive feelings and activate the health benefits of a gratitude practice.
Not only being grateful for what you have or receive from others, but also, what you have given to others to serve them and hearing how grateful they are to you, works as a way to practice.
Build a habit of gratitude
Practicing gratitude regularly has positive effects on your emotional and physical health. Incorporate a form of gratitude practice into your daily or weekly routines and see how you start getting more joy out of the simplest things in your life.
