HEALTH AND WELLNESS TOPIC.43(2)

By likemindblog

THE POWER OF GRATITUDE PART TWO (2)

So how exactly does it help? Well let’s take a look:

It helps us in social engagement

What on earth has happened to our manners lately? Please and thank you go further than ever before, simply because no one else is using them! It’s true and fairly sad in many ways.

If you are a parent one of the most powerful things you ca do is teach your children to use manners.

And it’s not only the words- it’s the voice behind them. Parents often will tell a child to say it like they mean it. We as adults are no different. Use manners, and your world begins to open up socially. People watch us all the time as we engage with others. Gratitude is a way to showing respect to other people.

Think about the last time someone said thank you to you and you knew they meant it. It does something quite magical to your relationship with them. Someone who honors what you’ve given them or some work you’ve done. If they thank you for it, the first reaction is often to want to give them more. Because you know that what you give them will be rewarded again- or at least you hope it will be!

If we start thanking people around us for doing their job, for being kind, for giving us something when they don’t have to, then it makes everything run smoother. People gravitate towards people they think are going to reward them for their actions. A smile goes a big way too. Smiling is an easy way to say thanks. If it’s all you can manage, try a smile on a stranger today. They are likely to pass it right on to someone else.

It’s a bit of a coarse way of thinking about it, but if you really can’t think of any reason you should be grateful for people who are just doing what they are supposed to do, think of it as if you are just greasing the wheels. What that means is think about how easier it gets when you just give people a bit of your thanks. Sure, they may only be doing their job, but it’s far better than all those people who aren’t quite doing even that right? Thank people for the work they do, for any small kindness that comes your way and see how effective it is.

CASE STUDY

Andrew was going for a sales job. He knew he had the least experience and least qualifications to get the job. In face he wasn’t even sure how he’d got the interview. What he did know was he was very thankful to be given the opportunity.

The interview went well, though it was impressed on him again that everyone else was more experienced for the role. As he left the building, he slipped the receptionist an envelope. Inside was a thank you note for the man who had just interviewed him, thanking him for his time and for the opportunity.

That evening, he got the call to say he’d got the job. His new employee was very clear. It wasn’t his qualifications that got him the job. It was the card. If he was able to thank him at this stage, he knew Andrew would be able to build positive relationships with his client which is exactly what he was looking for. Being grateful won him the job.

ASSIGNMENT

Spend the next day thanking the people around you when they do something for you. Don’t make it empty words. Instead, focus on what the person is doing and then thank them sincerely (and to an appropriate level. Bursting into tears, and hugging a waitress passionately is probably not required if they bring some free water to your table).

See how it makes you feel, and if it makes you more open to gratitude?

Try and make it a part of your every day experience.

It Helps Your Mind

Once we are used to thanking the people around us, it’s time to start being grateful for some of the good things working in our lives. This can be difficult to quantify, especially if you are under a fair amount of stress or finding life a bit tough. However there are so many things we have around us we take for granted, and often have no idea of the positive impact those things have on us.

As is true with human nature, there are so many things we don’t realize the worth of until we don’t have around us. If you have children, you’ll be aware of that sense of wanting your child to be asleep just so you can get something don’t without them interrupting you, then when three are asleep, wanting them to wake up so you can hold them, touch them and play with them.

Or maybe you just have forgotten what it’s like to live in your own place, without having your parents around to check what time you get home, or what it feels like to be able to drive somewhere, or go get a takeaway instead of cook…

There are just so many little freedoms we have that we take for granted. Find things to be grateful for.

ASSIGNMENT

Take stock of where you sit right now….

LOOK

Take a look around the room. Can you see things? Acknowledge your ability to see. Be grateful for it. Look at the colors around you, how you can distinguish them from each other. This is something to also be grateful for. Think about the things you own. Are they the only clothes you own- the ones you have on now? Allow yourself to feel gratitude for being clothed. Are you in a place where you are sheltered from the sun or the rain or the wind? Allow yourself to feel gratitude for this.

Do you have any money on you at all? Be thankful even if it is merely a few coins.

These are all small points of gratitude. This isn’t about trying to find large big things to be thankful for, but together a little gratitude over a range of different things starts to add up.

So why bother doing this?

If you make this part of your everyday habits, along with getting dressed, eating, drinking and all those other important tasks then you start to focus on only what is positive and good. Doing this doesn’t make the bad parts of our lives magically disappear but it does give us strength to cope with those aspects. If you are generally optimistic by nature, this can be enough to boost your optimism and keep you from stress. If you are naturally pessimistic, then this can help you move out of negative thinking and into something more uplifting.

It’s so hard to be happy if we can’t find anything to be happy about. But spending time being grateful everyday helps us to naturally become happier. It makes our happy state less up and down and far more stable. This improved state of thinking provides a raft of benefits from increased confidence, to decreased ill health, to increasing our enjoyment levels across the board in a range of different situations.

The key is to do this enough that it slips into our sub consciousness. It’s said that around ninety percent of our behavior stems from our subconscious self. How powerful is it then when we begin to act out of gratitude rather than defensiveness or negativity?

It also becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. As we become happier, we naturally gravitate to things, people and situations that make us happier. In doing so, we begin to create a life that is all we desire and more. It’s the true power of being filled with gratitude.

To be continued next week with what it does to your body…