I have always been a really grateful person, despite some of the awful circumstances life has thrown at me. I try to see the beauty in everyone and everything. I don’t always get it right, but I do try and see the positive and part of that includes being grateful for what I have. Gratitude helps us to stay focused in the moment. While we may not have all we need/want right now we can still be grateful for what we do have.
Image: Quotes App, Source: Link Broken :(
In our family we play a gratitude game, pretty much most days, where we ask each other for 3 things that we are grateful for and we share why that is. This exercise is invaluable as it doesn’t matter how bad things might appear in life there are always small things to be appreciated. It’s just that sometimes we need to look a bit harder for them. By taking the time to appreciate the smaller things in life it puts you in a better frame of mind to be able to deal with other issues. You become a stronger, more resourceful, person somehow.
The process of doing this exercise in written form though becomes much more powerful. It makes you really consider what is important in life to you and what that particular ‘entity’ brings to you. When you see a list of all of the things that you appreciate it makes you realise how very fortunate you are. It can take some of that feeling of ‘carrying the world on your shoulders’ away.
If you’re in a negative place and focusing only on the negative aspects of your life and you can’t see outside of your own problem/issues this exercise will help you to focus on the positive aspects and start to appreciate what you have. This in turn can bolster your self-esteem and strengthen you in the process.
How do you like people to show gratitude to you? Do you tell them or do you set an expectation in your mind of what you like and then when it doesn’t match up get disappointed? My husband used to be terrible at saying, ‘Thank you’ and it used to really hit a nerve with me because I try to thank everyone for what they do for me. It costs nothing. He used to use the ‘Well it goes without saying’ argument, but in my case it didn’t. Once I shared with him how important it was to me and at the same time changed my expectation of him being grateful in the way I wanted, we got to a middle ground that works brilliantly. If we hadn’t had that conversation in the first place we’d have both been irritated by each other!
In our family we say thank you to/for each other every day. When was the last time you told someone that you were grateful for them? I challenge you to go out today and tell one person how grateful you are for them, for their friendship, their time, their _____ (fill in the gap)
Personally I’d like to thank you for reading my posts, it really means a lot to me 
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Hi Ruby,
your article really meets my current emotional life, as the current situation let me forget how fortunate I am. Remembering that you are not alone and do not have to shoulder all the problems by yourself is one of the big mistakes in life, making you feel miserable. You just have to ask for help if you need it and not regard this as weakness. There are times in life where you are in need of help and there are other times where you can help. Having family and friends is what I really do appreciate, unfortunately when life gets tough you start to forget about your fortune. Reading your article made me remember this.
Thank you.
Silvia
Hi Silvia, gratitude is so important. It helps shift your perspective somehow. I love your phrase that there are times in life we have to ask for help if we need it and other times where we can help. It’s so easy to put on a tough outer exterior and not share with others. I know I’ve done this so many times and my friends have been bewildered at what I’ve been through unknowingly to them. Here’s to us remembering our fortune!
Great article. Particularly “How do you like people to show gratitude to you?”. To show gratitude I send out physical greeting cards for both personal and customer use. I took a 30 days challenge too and doing it again soon http://www.showgratitudechallenge.com/?ttgb
Ooh thanks for sharing the link Diane. Glad you liked the article