A Word on Gratefulness and Mindfullness

I just wanted to share something I’ve found in pursuit of re-happiness … if you’re a grateful person, your day-to-day will be a gift and a delight.  How do you start practising gratefulness?  Instead of focusing on the negative things that have happened during your day (“Traffic was horrible this morning,” “I had to talk to that co-worker that I hate and it was awful,” “It was cloudy and nasty all day,” “She is such a drama queen,” “I didn’t get to take my lunch on time today.”…), recollect at least three good things that happened today.  These don’t have to be big things; they can be as simple as love, family, a beautiful blooming flower, a best friend, the rain, the sun, a good run.  Things that made you happy, brought a little smile to your face, or made you feel good.  Often times, we tend to take the good things in life for granted.  So start consciously getting into the habit of being grateful.  Keep a journal and write down those three or more things before the day ends.  At the end of your week, go back to the journal and look over all the gifts you’ve received; the positive things that you pulled from each day.  As you make this a practise in your every day life, you will notice that, since you’re looking out for things to list in your journal that night, you are now becoming more mindful of the day and more aware of the things going on around you.  You will now go through your life with eyes wide open and you’re truly experiencing everything.  As humans, we usually will go through most of our days on automatic pilot, not really paying attention to the mundane.  But in doing that, you could actually be missing out on some really amazing and/or important things.  In this practise, you will be more alert to not only the things that are happening around you, but also what is going on within you, physiologically and psychologically.  You will have more conversations with yourself and will  perhaps realise new things about why you feel the things you feel or notice things you would like to change.  In addition to this new mindful way of living, your search for something to note in your nightly journal will give you a more positive outlook.  You’re consciously looking for good things to document, as you must have those three things at least to fill your pages.  If you’re actively searching for good things (that darn journal will be looking at you expectantly tonight), will you really be focused on the things that you hate?  There have been studies on this, actually.  People who jotted down in the evening three good things that happened every day for just a week, were happier and less depressed for up to 6 months afterward.  …. A week.  So even if you don’t keep it up, try listing the day’s happinesses, blessings, gifts and good things for only a week; you’ll reap the benefits for months! ♥

Tagged: diary, grateful, happiness, happy, journal, life, mindful, mindfulness

Posted in: Humanity, inspiration, Life