Practicing Gratitude
Description
Feeling grateful is a state of mind.
Many studies all over the world have attempted to determine the effect of gratitude interventions on health, happiness, well-being, and positive mood of an individual. When I came across several of these studies, I personally started to practice gratitude consciously. Every morning, I would wake up and start cherishing the grateful moments I have experienced so far.
But this is not the key to success. Success follows the person who is able to believe that the very thing that he desires has come true. Every time, I had a desire, I would pray about it and believe I received it. I would not stop there; I will feel the experience of having it and enter into an elevated state of gratitude. The thought of seeing, smelling, hearing, touching and feeling it will automatically give joy and peace.
BY being grateful, our mind focuses on the vision to a great future, the unwanted noisy negative chatter gets shooed away and our mind is free to go in the path of our passion and purpose.
Like any other skill, this needs practice. Every time you get into discouragement, doubt, envy, self-pity, fear or anger rise above these emotions, change your thoughts to all the things you have, and you will have and experience gratitude in its highest form!
I am reminded of a very famous song written by Johnson Oatman Jr. in 1897
So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.