Everyone faces challenges throughout their lives. Times that seem to have insurmountable difficulties. Health issues, job loss, divorce, financial crises, devastation through fire or weather, death of a loved one…the list goes on. These times can leave us drained physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. It’s all part of the human experience. AND the good stuff keeps happening too! The trick is you must notice the good to keep practicing gratitude. In this final musing on gratitude, we’ll look at practical way we can do this.
*Try to “flip” the situation. Reframe the situation; look at it from different angles/points of view. Find one that helps you come to some sense of peace with what happened, rather than all anger or sadness.
*Get rid of the “shoulds.” We all have expectations for how a situation should be. But we only see the situation from our personal perspective. Try substituting the word “could” for “should.” Then ask yourself, “What else could…?” Could invites curiosity and exploration, opening yourself up to new possibilities…allowing you to gain more gratitude.
o Celebrate little things. Someone held the door for you. The clerk smiled at you. Your phone held its charge all day.
o Helping someone else who is struggling can also help you by improving your mood because you’re focused on someone else's difficult situation.
*Keep in mind all the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual benefits of your gratitude practice. Reflect on other challenging times in your life and see how gratitude helped or how it perhaps could’ve made things better. Use this information to help you continue to practice gratitude through the tough times. And know you’re not alone. We are all suffering in our own ways.
How do you stay grateful through the rough patches of life?
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