Practicing Gratitude

 

Practicing Gratitude

When it comes to practicing gratitude, one trap to avoid is locating happiness in things that make us feel better off—or simply better—than others. Such thinking can foster envy and jealousy.

There are marvelous respects in which we are equally blessed—the same sun shines down upon each of us, we all begin each day with the same 24 hours, and each of us enjoys the free use of one of the most complex and powerful resources in the universe, the human brain.

Much in our culture seems aimed to cultivate an attitude of deficiency—for example, most ads aim to make us think that to find happiness we must buy something. Yet most of the best things in life—the beauty of nature, conversation, and love—are free.

There are many ways to cultivate a disposition of thankfulness. One is to make a habit of giving thanks regularly—at the beginning of the day, at meals and the like, and at day’s end.

Likewise, holidays, weeks, seasons, and years can be punctuated with thanks—grateful prayer or meditation, writing thank-you notes, keeping a gratitude journal, and consciously seeking out the blessings in situations as they arise.

Gratitude can become a way of life, and by developing the simple habit of counting our blessings, we can enhance the degree to which we are truly blessed.