Gratitude is underrated

Gratitude is underrated as fuck. Perhaps modern society has rendered it “wishy-washy”, a bit cringe, but on application to your life, you notice insane benefits which go beyond just “positive thinking”. In life, there is no positive and negative, other than how you perceive something to be.

Gratitude is a feeling. It is neither positive nor negative. Feelings are frequential, i.e. gratitude exists in the upper echelons of a higher frequency. But gratitude is rather meaningless to many young people, especially teenagers, or irate customers who have waited in line too long. As gratitude is the last thing on their mind and they would most likely view it negatively. After all, in their respective circumstances, they would say there is nothing to be grateful for.

You see, perception is key. Gratitude is a feeling generated by a synthesis of thoughts which yield the gratitude “fruit” so to speak. When you experience it, you are eating the fruit, the yield of your thinking.

Thinking is attention. You allocate, every day, whether you like it or not, certain thoughts towards certain things. You might think thoughts are random but they do not need to be. Those who think thoughts are random experience exactly that: random thoughts. But those who think more intentionally and pay attention to exactly what they are thinking are able to direct themselves to thinking on aspects of their lives to generate the “fruits” of their labour, the labour of thinking itself. The labour of placing attention on what you are grateful for, no matter the event which occurs.

A powerful notion not investigated enough is understanding how to be grateful when an ordinarily perceived “negative” event occurs in life. I am able to look at a scenario in my life, which most would view as negative, and find the spark of gratitude in it and dive deeper into that line of thinking. For instance, take a classic one: “losing a job”. It is not so much a loss, as much as an opportunity for tangible change which leads to what you truly desire.

If I do not identify gratitude in such moments, more often than not, I would think in terms of depression which gives me exactly that life experience and I have come to a point in my life where I realise now: What is the point of that?

What is the point of allowing myself to consciously be sad?

There are instances in my life where I allow myself to feel sad, but I am grateful while experiencing it. Why? How? Well, it’s because I say to myself that this sadness arose from the series of thoughts I have had recently. I am grateful to understand where this sadness comes from as it allows me now to alter what I am consciously allocating my attention and my thinking towards in order to induce change in my life.

This practice has brought me deep and sincere relaxation, no matter what stressful situation I find myself in. And interestingly, as you keep taking this practice further and become more grounded in yourself, calmer and can think clearly, you begin to attract fewer of the problems you are currently facing and as a result, undergo a complete identity shift from the previous version of yourself.

If you do not cringe at the thought of yourself in your formative years, i.e. the way you spoke, the clothes you wore, the mannerisms you emanated, then have you truly grown? Have you truly made any changes? After all, change is necessary and part and parcel of evoking the truth of who you are in this world. And being grateful significant helps you accept and welcome change into your life.