We often hear that saying “Gratitude is attitude,” and we know the connotation. When we are grateful, it shapes our attitude. When we recognize what we have, what is working for us, or what is a true blessing in our lives we restructure our foundation. We become a little more untouchable to the horrors of the world because we don’t lose sight of what we have.
This all sounds well and good, but it is not an easy practice. When we are told repeatedly that we should just be happy, that our suffering is trite because someone out there is worse off, this diminishes our emotional barometer. Just because someone out there is worse off doesn’t mean that your emotions or your circumstance are meaningless.
What should be spoken more is finding the balance between the two. We need to be able to express our emotions, and take time to sit in our darkness. Forgiveness and release are great emotional healers, but they need to come when called. Each one of us decides when that day comes. We need to be able to be angry, sad, frustrated (place your emotion here), but it must be kept in perspective.
We need to take time to recognize the good, the blessings, the light that has been shining us. One easy way to do that is take time to write everyday in a gratitude journal. These writings do not have to be paragraphs or pages. They can be a few sentences. They can be short and sweet, and they can be anything.
The other night I was grateful for a TV show. This morning I was grateful for coffee. Right now I am grateful you are reading this. You have no idea how much it means to me that you are taking the time to digest my words, these words that I pray find and serve you well. Take a few minutes each day to recognize the blessings you have. These tiny little blurbs will be of service. They are like little fortune cookies that you wrote for yourself.
Try starting a few times a week. Try these prompts that I have listed below. Gratitude can be found in anything because everything is sacred. Enjoy Wolflings!
- What in the natural world are you grateful for?
- What was something you went through that felt excruciating, but now you are grateful it happened?
- What is a material object you are grateful for?
- What is something small/ insignificant that you are grateful for?