It was meditation (shout out to Andy and his team at Headspace) and my mother who taught me the practice of being grateful. To me, being grateful is saying "thank you" when you've consumed your first meal of the day, as well as at the end of the day when you can't seem to catch a break.
I catch myself using this concept in three ways and it is a practice we can all find common ground with.
1. Appreciate the little things
There are days when I'll be with my family and my head hurts from laughing so hard or when I'm walking to class and the sun is so bright I can barely see that I'll feel this overwhelming state of gratitude wash over me. In those small moments, I choose to be grateful for my hearing because I'm able to take in the laughter that is all around me. I choose to be grateful for my eyes because I'm able to see the sun and how beautiful it really is. And I even choose to be grateful for my legs because I'm able to walk and get to where I need to be. It's the little things that we so often forget to appreciate until they're gone. Try to acknowledge the smaller things that make the biggest difference.
2. Understanding the difference between gratitude and grateful living
When people think of gratitude they think, "When something good happens to me, well, of course I'll be grateful." It is simple to be grateful for the good – where the challenge lies is when the good turns bad. When you are choosing to live gratefully, that means you are grateful at all times. At every moment, life gives you an opportunity to do something with what life gives you. In other words, the next time you get worked up because you had to wait an extra 20 minutes for an oil change, be grateful you have a car to drive. Look at it as an opportunity to practice your patience.
3. With gratitude comes growth
What I believe sets you up for success is the expression "trust life." A question that strikes me a lot of the time is, how can you maintain that trust when life seems to be unfair? My answer is: look backward. Whatever the hardship, it brought me to where I needed to be. It made me who I am. When you look forward, it is difficult to maintain that trust, but when you look backward and reflect, that is when the trust builds.
Certainly, we cannot be grateful for everything that happens to us like violence, loss, or betrayal; it is in the moments of given opportunity that we must rise to the occasion. We live in such a fast-paced world, whether we like it or not. Often times we don't see the opportunity that is presented every day. We must learn how to stop long enough to be present – to listen, look and be grateful.
