Be Grateful

With the year that many of us had, it can sometimes be hard to think of the things that we should be grateful for.

That’s what we’re here to do. Not only do we want to add to your days with a positive thought, we want to help you to remember to be grateful for all that you do have.

To kick this off, let’s start with the definition. This is only because some folks feel that grateful and thankful are exactly the same thing. They do go hand in hand, but they aren’t exactly the same.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the word grateful as being “appreciative of benefits received”. In other words, this is the “action” of appreciating things, within yourself.

When put into action, being grateful is appreciating something that you have or appreciating the people you have in your life. But, you should ask yourself this… Even though you do have this appreciation, do you practice being grateful daily?

Part of being grateful includes remembering to be thankful.

Merriam-Webster dictionary defines thankful as being ‘conscious of benefit received’, as in when you say thank you for someone’s action. For example, you can give thanks and express your thanks like saying ‘I am thankful that I was invited over for Thanksgiving dinner’. Get it?

Even though you may be thinking that it’s hard to find things to be grateful for this year, how about thinking about it another way? You can be grateful for the extra time that you have possibly spent with your immediate family. If you have children, maybe you are grateful for seeing them grow up as you may not have if they were in school. Maybe you’ve learned a new hobby or skill, or you were able to learn a new language. Those are all things to be grateful for. One of our favorites- being grateful that we are getting outside and enjoying nature. Who isn’t grateful for fresh air?

When you’re thinking about what you’re grateful for, don’t just look at the big things, look at the little things too. Start the morning by waking up and looking at everything you have and what you are doing with gratitude.

You bet… we get it that waking up in the morning can be tough some days and the thought of getting out of your warm comfy bed isn’t on your top 10 list. You can start there though, and be grateful for your warm comfy bed and then keep going from there.

What you may not realize, is that by being grateful you’re helping yourself to block out negative feelings and emotions by forcing yourself to focus on the positive. This just makes everything better.

You should always appreciate what you do have. Now. In the present. Don’t just be grateful for what you had in the past or what you hope to have in the future. Take a moment to think of the here and now and be grateful for it.

If this feels a little challenging, you should look internally and externally on this one.

Do you have your health?

Do you have friends and family that care about you and that you care about?

Do you have a furry companion that you love and cherish?

These are all great things to be grateful for.

When you care about others and show you care, this is another way to express your gratitude.

This can be as simple as a smile, a helping hand or a kind word. If you’ve visited our Instagram, you’ll see that kindness is something that we talk about a lot. That’s because we believe that one of the best ways to be grateful for others is to be kind.

By expressing, ‘I am extremely grateful to have you in my life’, you will end up not only lifting yourself up with your gratitude, but the other person as well. Two for one!

Especially today, you can take this one step further and volunteer. You may think, “I am grateful for all the people in my life and food on my table, maybe I can volunteer in some way to help others have this too.” This is just another way you can spread kindness and love to others.

While you’re expressing your gratitude, don’t forget to be mindful along the way. This means focusing on each moment of every day and accepting it. Even if it isn’t a great situation, accept it, then take a moment and think about what you are grateful for.

One last thing you should do while being grateful is to keep a journal of what you are grateful for! When you write down your positive thoughts and things that you are grateful for, this further imprints them in your mind and memory. An added benefit of keeping this journal is to remind yourself of things to be grateful for if you’re having a gloomy day.

When practicing all of these ways to express your gratitude every day, you will find that it becomes easier and easier and overall you will be a happier person.

And that’s what we love to see!