Practice Gratitude
In this talk, you will understand how practicing gratitude affects you. You will learn to focus on what you have, and not what you are lacking. You will become more connected to yourself and others, and also connect on a deeper level to the people you have in your life. Consciously practicing gratitude has a humongous capacity to experience joy and love for the world. Learn to harvest it.
Transcript
So,
Today we will look at how practicing gratitude can serve you.
You will become more aware of what you have and not what you are lacking.
With a gratitude mindset,
You will also become more connected to yourself and others.
Our goal is to understand the value of gratitude and how it actually is a natural state of mind.
Leroy Satchel Paige said,
Don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines.
Let's see if you can become grateful for the rain and a few other things.
Before we talk about gratitude,
Let me challenge you on what you already have.
Most of us,
And most likely also you,
Do not really worry about being able to afford basic needs.
Now,
That is great.
It is a good thing.
It is way better to easily be able to afford renting an apartment or buying a house than not to.
It is way better to have a laptop than not to have a laptop.
It is way better to be able to easily afford food than to be hungry.
So,
Do not ever feel bad about being able to afford basic needs.
Nobody should have to worry about basic needs,
But not having to worry about things and not feeling bad for having them is different from taking them for granted or even worse,
Thinking you deserve them.
Be very careful with the word deserve.
Saying you deserve something,
Whatever it is,
Is an unhealthy way of looking at things.
No matter if what you think you deserve is good or bad.
If you believe that you are inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment that other people are not deserving of,
Then you are entitled and you will never be able to truly experience happiness.
On the other hand,
If you believe that you are inherently deserving of worse treatment than others,
Then you are victimizing yourself and you will also never be able to truly experience happiness.
You will not be able to experience true happiness,
Because a feeling of entitlement or victimizing yourself both have the same effect,
They disconnect you from other human beings.
And true happiness can only be experienced when connected to other people.
If it is the case that you think you are deserving of something,
No matter if it is good or bad,
Then I would like to invite you to try out the word creating instead.
Just say,
I create such and such,
Instead of I deserve such and such.
Creating empowers you and gives you a feeling of being in control of your life.
Creating allows you to change,
Develop and mature.
Next,
Let me tell you a bit more of why practicing gratitude is so important in order to develop yourself and experience happiness.
We already realize that it should be a natural state to be able to afford housing,
Food,
Transport,
Means of communication.
But if that is all normal to you,
Then why would you benefit from practicing gratitude for them?
The biggest reason is that practicing gratitude connects you to what you have and not what you are lacking.
You will appreciate your life and the people in your life at the very moment.
You will be able to be truly present and you will not be busy worrying about the future.
On the other hand,
When your thoughts are with bigger and better things in the future,
Then you automatically take things for granted,
Especially simple things like a meal.
You will strive for goals that you think you will be grateful for in the future.
But the truth is,
If you cannot be grateful for what you experience in the present moment,
You will neither be able to be grateful for the better things in your future.
Practicing gratitude cannot start with an achievement.
It has to start with what you have already.
But practicing gratitude will not demotivate you from your goals.
Quite the opposite.
It will release the tension and stress you build around your goals and will make you achieve them easier.
And let me tell you why so many of us find it difficult to practice gratitude.
This is a strange thing because being grateful is a natural state of being.
Being unhappy with what you have and wanting more is an unnatural state of being.
So why is it so difficult?
The biggest reason most of us are stuck in constantly wanting more is because of our political systems,
Our economic systems,
And most importantly,
It is because of the media you absorb.
Especially social media.
What you absorb is designed to make you feel you are lacking something.
Because profits for media corporations come from their commercials selling you things.
And selling you something can only happen when you have the feeling that you are lacking something in your life.
So here is the very first big step to practice gratitude.
Become aware of how you absorb social media and become aware of how you long for things you don't have or long for places you have never been to.
Stopping this constant longing makes you feel present,
Makes you truly be in the moment.
Your belongings are enough,
Your friends are enough,
Your partner is enough.
You are enough.
Next,
Practicing gratitude has a huge effect on your community.
When you truly appreciate others,
You will inspire them to do exactly the same.
Why?
Because showing gratitude gives them a moment of joy and they will internalize how that moment was created.
Think about how it touches you when someone is truly grateful for what you have done.
And the more grateful you are,
The more grateful others will be.
Here it is important to mention that when communicating your appreciation to others and also to yourself,
Make sure you share your feelings.
A thank you is sometimes all you need to say,
But extending that to an explanation of how it made you feel will have a much bigger effect on others and yourself.
Lastly,
Practicing gratitude will bring you into a generally positive mindset.
Practice your training to look at the good things more than the bad things.
You should not forget about bad things that are happening in your life,
But you will give them less attention and thus,
You will have more space in your mind to experience positive thoughts and emotions.
We all have things to be grateful for and we all have things to feel sorrow about.
It is often a choice of which one you give the most attention to.
Now,
Let us look at the practical exercises for today.
Firstly,
I would like to invite you to write down five things that you are grateful for.
Choose things that seem mundane at first sight.
For example,
Your bus arriving on time,
The supermarket having fresh food for you to buy,
The tap water running,
Anything that is not out of the ordinary.
Write them down now.
Five sentences starting every time with I am thankful for XYZ.
Pause the course now and come back to it when you have done the first part.
Now I would like you to write down the names of five people in your life whom you are not close to,
But whom you are thankful for.
The bus driver,
The random person who picked up something for you,
The cook in a restaurant you had lunch at,
The person who built your house 20 years ago.
Can be anyone.
Write down five people you are grateful for.
Start again with I am grateful for XYZ.
Again,
Pause the course now and come back when you have done the second part.
Now,
Over the next few days I would like to invite you to practice gratitude at least three times per day.
Three times per day consciously say the sentence I am grateful for XYZ.
Can be anything that pops into your mind,
Big or small,
Important or unimportant,
But say the sentence I am grateful for XYZ and add whatever comes to your mind.
Make it a daily occurrence to say I am grateful.
Now please make a calendar entry for when you will continue this course.
Can be in a couple of days or a week,
But please set a reminder now so that you will stay on your path.
