“If you want to find happiness, find gratitude. “Steve Morobol
Science is finding that gratitude can serve as a protective factor preventing one from becoming overwhelmed by life. It helps one remain balanced and open to the good life can hold. The short of it is that gratitude brings hope and allows one to remember better times as he or she walks through adversity.
By taking time to be grateful for what we have or what we are fortunate enough not to gives one a chance to be happy. Positive psychologists believe that some emotions close us down making it difficult not only for the bad to get in but for the good to enter a person’s heart as well. When we open our heart yes it is possible to be hurt but it is possible to be loved, supported, and receive joy.
Sometimes past events keep one closed despite wanting to be open. It is possible that one is closed due to not remembering that the world is not all bad. Finding a place of gratitude helps one to remember times when needs were met, or happiness was present.
JOURNAL PROMPTS
1. Make a list of 100 things you are grateful for being sure to note why you are grateful.
2. After you have made your list take a moment and write a thank you note/text to all the people on it.
GUIDANCE
If you cannot think of 100 things slow down, take a step back from the exercise and return to it later. Ask yourself if you are taking anything for granted. If you are still stuck think about what you could not go without and add those things to the list.
EXTRA THOUGHT
Often people are encouraged to make it a habit of noting what they are grateful for. This does not mean you have to note your gratitude’s daily. Science has found that doing so three times a week is more effective than doing it daily. I am thinking this is true due to the habit to just add one more task to the list of things to do which takes our heart out of the experience causing the opposite of the intention of doing the activity.