What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is an automatic “vibration raiser.” When you’re grateful, you feel great and you do great things! More than any other emotional force on Earth, gratitude forces you to focus on the positive rather than the negative. In fact, it’s impossible to feel grateful and negative at the same time. There will always be some aspect of every person, thing, or situation that we can feel appreciation for. Therefore, there is nothing stopping us from choosing a positive state of mind 24/7, if we so desire.

Like a form of anti-depressant, gratitude is a quick-fix solution which has the ability to automatically change the way you think and feel. But unlike the former, its positive effects are everlasting. The beautiful thing about this amazing “drug” is that we can always access it. There is no prescription you need to fill. There is no limit to how much you can take, or a specified time when you must take it. It’s always available when you need it because it’s always inside you, waiting to be used.

We’ve all been thankful for one thing or another; sunny days, the people we love, money, presents, or compliments. But how has “being grateful” changed your life? Maybe you answered that it hasn’t. Maybe you see gratitude the way I used to – as nothing more than a sophisticated word for “thank you:” a passing thought of appreciation quickly forgotten. When you look at it that way, is gratitude really anything more than just a word?

Gratitude is a thought, a feeling, an action, and a way of life. For thousands of years, millions of successful, happy people all over the world have been using gratitude as a technique to increase their potential, build incredible wealth and success, strengthen relationships, ignite love, improve physical health, restore self-esteem, boost confidence, develop new opportunities, and strengthen their connection with God, all with the most remarkable results. It goes without saying; those who regularly practice gratitude are generally more fulfilled in all areas of their lives than those who do not.

In an article printed in Successful Living magazine, a claim was made about the effects of gratitude on health.  “Psychologists Robert Emmons, at the University of California at Davis, and Michael McCullough, at the University of Miami, are foremost researchers in the emerging field of gratitude. What they have learned so far is that gratitude is good for you, really good for you.”

Studies show that people who practice gratitude regularly experience many positive benefits; including better health, greater wealth, richer relationships, and increased happiness and confidence; not to mention lower levels of stress and depression, compared to those who don’t (Justice 2007, 18-19).

Gratitude is the key to financial wealth.

There is no question about it, grateful people experience increased wealth. Gratitude is a real energetic force in the world. The more you are grateful for your existing wealth, the more you will find to be grateful for. The old expression, “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” could be more accurately stated as, “those who feel rich get richer and those who feel poor get poorer.”

Grateful people feel rich. Understanding the feelings of having a lot, they come to desire more of the same. They become enthusiastic and confident in their abilities to set and accomplish big (and small) goals. The more they accomplish and receive, the more they have to feel grateful about. It’s cyclical (and thus the reasoning behind why goal setting works best when combined with the practice of gratitude).

Gratitude is the core of all spirituality.

The power of gratitude has a reach far beyond the tangible. It is your connection with a Higher Power. It connects us with God by creating a deep, emotional feeling of faith that reminds us we’ve been blessed; that our life is a gift to be cherished and fulfilled. Giving thanks is the simplest form of connection you can have with God.

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you:’ that would suffice.”

Meister Eckhart

Gratitude is beneficial to your health.

It’s a fact. Those who practice gratitude are physically and mentally healthier than those who do not. When we feel grateful, serotonin (our body’s “feel good” chemical) increases, positively stimulating our immune system. Low serotonin levels are said to be the cause of many of our ills, such as depression, lowered sex-drive, anxiety, apathy, fear, anger, increased appetite and cravings, insomnia, and fatigue.

Gratitude is good for your heart and soul! Emmons and McCullough’s research shows that when we think grateful thoughts, “the feeling that goes with the thought, the parasympathetic (calming-branch of the autonomic nervous system) is triggered. This pattern, when repeated, bestows a protective effect on the heart … This may not only relieve hypertension, but also reduce the risk of sudden death from coronary disease.”

Gratitude is the key to personal growth.

The second you become grateful, your thoughts, emotions and attitude begin to shift. And the more you practice gratitude, the easier things will become. Your eyes will open up and you will awake to a reality which once eluded you – the one where you are in control of your life. Thoughts, feelings and situations which once baffled you will become almost effortless.

Gratitude creates faith, and with faith comes the excitement of more to come. As you start to look within (and to God) for the answers, no longer will you see your glass as being half-empty; in need of someone else to fill it. Instead, you will begin to see life as a precious gift; filled with endless opportunity. Day-by-day, the more you experience the miracle of gratitude, the more you will want to experience. You will want to change and grow. You will want to become the person God intended you to be.

Gratitude is the doorway to happiness.

Gratitude releases the flow of love, kindness, acceptance and serenity into our lives. It also has the power to inspire forgiveness and mend broken relationships and past hurts. It can turn even the biggest failure into an opportunity. Gratitude enables us to savor the gifts that already lie beneath our “Christmas tree” of life, when life is going well. And when things are going poorly, it allows us to see the hidden blessings in everything. With gratitude, financial struggles offer an opportunity to shift our priorities. A job lost is another chance to go after your dreams. Serious illness, or even death, offers the chance for family members to grow closer.

In Buddhism there is the expression; “turning poison into medicine.” Every “poisonous” situation can be transformed into something medicinal, but only when we look at it through the eyes of gratitude.

Perhaps the best reason of all for unlocking the power of gratitude is that it feels wonderful. Feeling grateful is its own reward, even if it didn’t provide a host of other miraculous benefits. Compare a moment of gratitude to a moment of complaining. There’s no contest. Why anyone would choose to live without gratitude is one of the great mysteries of human life.

Excerpt from Gratitude and Goals: Create the Life You Would Love to Live

http://staceygrewal.com/gratitude-and-goals/