Why Gratitude Works: A Simple Explanation
A gratitude practice is a simple and effective way to change your life.
In this article I will tell you why.
It's not what you get, but how grateful you are for receiving it
What determines how you view the world around you?
It’s not the world, I can guarantee that.
We all have ideas about the world and where we think we should be in it. We use these ideas to gauge how successfully we are living our lives. If we are doing really well compared to our beliefs and expectations we will be happy. The opposite is also true.
Why is this important?
When we see how our beliefs dictate our perception of reality, we can chose to adjust our beliefs to create our desired reality (perceived that is).
An example.
Say you have ten apples. You have grown up in a world of opulence where you are used to having 100 apples at all times. Having a measly 10 will most likely lead you to feeling bad, lacking and like you need more.
On the other hand, imagine you come from a place of destitute poverty. The closest you’ve come to a fresh apple is seeing a pixelated image on your old tv. In the second scenario you would be overjoyed to have 10 apples. Our perception of reality is 100% based off our expectations.
Changing Our Expectations
To change our expectations we can use simple exercises like a gratitude journal. Taking a moment every day to think about (or write down) what you are grateful for will help train your brain to be more grateful. Repeating this habit daily for a few weeks can make a sizable impact on how you feel.
A few months ago I committed to journaling daily for a month and ended up changing my whole life! Now I make time for journaling every day, no matter what.
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Great post! Resteemed
But don't you think that not being satisfied is what pushes you forward and helps in becoming a better person than what we previously were, take your example of apples for an instance, if we stop at 100 apples only and not strive for more then won't we become nothing at the end? Or may be stop evolving.. I hope you understand what I mean.
Yes and no. There is merit to using dissatisfaction as a fuel for growth; however, you run the risk of never having enough. That's why we have high level CEOs who aren't satisfied with their success. It is a cycle.
You can also grow organically, pushing yourself because you like it while not needing to acheive in order to validate your self worth.
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I guess both the things are simultaneously important and must be present in a human though being totally contradictory to each other.
I already do not live in luxury at all... but there is a limit to everything. With children more as when you need to survive alone.