How Gratitude Can Help You Lead a Happy Life? 5 Reasons to Practice Gratitude Daily

It’s not breakthroughs that make life worth living. It is the life experiences that make it invaluable. True success lies in embracing and appreciating these simple experiences. Yet, many of us ruin our life chasing complexities.

Life was never promised to be a smooth journey. So why waste time shedding tears? The only thing that can shift your perspective of the past, present, and future is gratitude. With daily gratitude, you train your brain to seek out and focus on the positives every single day.

• Do you want to constantly fret about things that are beyond your control? 
• Do you want to waste your energy worrying?
• Do you want to live a miserable life?

Nope. Why not choose ease over hardships, gratitude over ingratitude, and happiness over distress.

1. Gratitude is easy

Imagine a hypothetical situation wherein you are given two paths to reach your destination. The first path has pebbles, gravel, and boulders, while the other path is smooth and polished. Which path would you choose? It’s an obvious choice, the easier path. Gratitude is an easy choice. We all juggle multiple tasks daily. Some are struggling with two odd jobs; some are working overtime, single mothers are raising kids alone, while some are crushed under heavy debt. Who doesn’t want to escape the hardships of life? Gratitude is a quick fix to get out of the worst situations.

• Why not be thankful for getting an opportunity to learn twice instead of crying about doing two odd jobs?
• Why not be grateful for all the healthy body parts instead of cursing the headache that you have since morning?
• Why not thank God for giving you a unique opportunity where you are the only person to receive your child’s unconditional love instead of cursing your single mother status?

2. Gratitude is the key to everlasting happiness

When you start counting your blessings, your focus shifts from problems and crises; it gives us more time to wonder about solutions rather than worrying about problems.

This does not reduce the problems, but it sure does pave the way to solve them.

Looking at life with the gratitude lens helps you to appreciate the small pleasures that life has to offer. It helps you to be happy by not focusing on problems. You save yourself from the burden of stress and concerns. Sulking over negativity makes one miserable. It’s the attitude of concentrating on the positives that lead to happiness. 

3. Gratitude does not cost a dime

Imagine if someone shared with you about a magic pill that can keep you healthy, productive, and happy free of cost. Wouldn’t you grab it instantly? Good things do not always cost us a fortune. Gratitude is free, and the more you harness its power, the more amazed you will be with its effect on your life.

You don’t have to buy a Porsche or a diamond to be happy. 

Thankfulness has a simple math logic behind it. You don’t need the addition of materials to be happy. Just count in the blessings that already exist in your life. You don’t need to go on a world tour to be blissful. Just look outside your window. The gentle flowing breeze, the warmth of the sun, the chirping of the birds are enough to make us cheerful.

If we open our eyes, the possibility of being grateful is endless.

4. Gratitude is a goodness magnet

A life revolving around gratitude is a meaningful life. It pulls all the good elements towards itself and radiates goodness. Life begins to move in a perfect flow. Being grateful is beyond a feeling. The universe is a big ball of resources. It has a lot to offer in multitudes. Gratitude is a link to pull all the goodies that the universe extends. You don’t have to study rocket science to harness the power of thankfulness. Mini strides towards changing the way we think are enough. It starts with our thinking.

Start noticing the good stuff in your life and see your life change.

To experience greater happiness, you constantly need to practice being thankful. It produces an eternal loop of satisfaction, which has a far-reaching effect on our personal and professional life.

5. Gratitude is not the absence of hardships

Br. David Steindl-Rast ideates the novel idea that “Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more.

Being thankful does not mean that life would become a cakewalk.

No. The hardships and problems will continue to knock at the door of our life till death. 

Life is designed for trials and tribulations.

• A thankful mindset, however, changes the way we react to the problems in life.
• It helps us to pause and relish the goodness that life has to offer even when the cup of our life is empty.
• It helps us to nurture an attitude of optimism when the going gets tough.
• A little gratitude can help us in the long run.

Gratitude helps us in unimaginable ways offend tangible and intangible benefits. It,

• Soothes us
• Energizes us
• Nurtures us
• Rejuvenate us
• Reassures us
• Nourishes us

It’s time to tap into the power of gratitude for a better and happy life.

A grateful life is a life of abundance wherein a life of ingratitude attracts adversity. The more you are ungrateful, the more you will be pushed into the darkness of dissatisfaction. Gratitude and satisfaction go hand in hand.

An ungrateful self is,

• Dissatisfied with everything
• Find faults in everything
• Fails to forgive self and others
• Complicates life for self and others
• Less productive, unhappy, and low self-esteem

Do you want to be on the receiving end of ingratitude?

Or do you want to be amongst those who want to savour the abundance that the universe has to offer?

It’s again an obvious choice, abundance over lack of resources.

The good news is that you don’t have put in a lot of effort to be grateful. Gratitude starts with a simple mindset- Giving thanks.

Being thankful is not a difficult choice at all. All you need to do is to make a conscious decision to be thankful. Decide and act; it’s as simple as that.

Nobody likes darkness, but darkness is inevitable. Life is a bundle of ups and downs. You can’t escape it but facing the sun is in your hand so that no shadow reaches you. It’s so basic yet so powerful. Small changes in the way we talk, the way we see a particular situation, the way we react can make a lot of differences in our life.

A negative mindset	A Gratitude mindset
” I failed at the task, I am good for nothing”.	“I am proud of myself for attempting it”.
” Nothing is right, I am going to suffer”.	“I am going to get through this.”
” I want to live a luxurious life”.	“Good health is the biggest luxury”.
” Things didn’t turn out the way I planned”.	” It was a learning experience”.

The way you choose your words to address a particular situation can make a lot of difference. It not only motivates you to do better but also saves you from the anxiety of loss and disappointments. Our actions also can be a great tool to harness the power of gratitude. One good turn deserves another.

• Don’t shy away from thanking anyone.
• Don’t shy away from expressing gratitude through your actions.
• Let your actions speak in volume.
• Never hesitate to thank a cab driver for a safe ride.
• Never fail to thank a chef for the tasty food.
• Never flinch to express gratitude to the community workers for keeping the roads clean.

This thing matters.

• What’s more amazing is that the good gratitude vibes that you send out will reciprocate in the ecosystem.
• It will become an endless loop of receiving and giving.
• The more you give, the more optimism you have in your life.

a. The superiority of gratitude

“The quality of life is more important than life itself.” – Alexis Carrel.

We all desire a balanced life where everything is just in the “right” amount. Gratitude helps us to do things in the right manner. It is a supreme force that sets our course of life in the right direction.

Gratitude is just beyond, “Thank you.”

It is an instrument of a revolution that changes our life for good.

By focusing on every blessing, we ultimately open doors and make way for more blessings to reach us.

It is a continuous cycle where you give thanks and receive more goodness.

It’s the actual manifestation of the “Law of attraction.” The more thanks you give, the more things you have to thank about.

A simple equation sums up the power of gratitude.

b. Appreciate blessings = More blessings

The more blessings you receive, the more thankful you become.

• Do you want to be amongst the ones who benefit immensely from the power of gratitude?
• Do you want to multiply your blessings by harnessing the power of gratitude?

If your answer is affirmative, then decide from this very moment to establish and nurture the habit of gratefulness today.

c. You are more optimistic

You start to see the glass as half full. This mindset enables you to see the brighter side of the things and be positive about future outcomes. It also directs your efforts in the right direction to ensure the desired results.

You emerge as a winner.

It’s a win-win situation.

This shouldn’t surprise you because a perspective of thankfulness works wonders.

d. You have more focus and clarity 

An attitude of thankfulness helps to ease your anxiety and declutter your mind from unnecessary worries. A more focused mind is a mind that has room for constructive things. When you have clarity of thoughts, you are in a stance to be more attentive and productive.

Your efficiency increases. A more focused person is an ideal candidate for growth in life.

e. You have better physical health

Gratitude is not just a “mind” thing. It also positively affects our physical health. Scientific findings prove that a grateful person is less anxious, sleeps better, keeps moving, and has less or no symptoms of anxiety. A person with a gratitude mindset is more health-conscious. He spends more time taking care of this body through better workout routines and diets.

The positive energy that we send in the universe comes back to us in the form of better health.

• Do you want to put out hostile energy in the universe?
• Do you want to suffer from health hazards?

Never. So let’s decide now to develop a thankfulness ritual just like we plan our health routine.

e. You are more productive

Imagine waking up daily with an overflowing reserve of energy in this era where burnouts are common.

Wouldn’t it be awesome?

Gratitude just makes this possible for us.

A study shows that managers who expressed gratitude towards their employees recorded increased productivity by 50%.

What an extraordinary wonder being grateful can accomplish. A daily gratitude intervention helps to increase alertness and confidence. 

Your decision-making ability shines when you practice gratitude. You are in a position to make informed judgments and show empathy at the workplace.  

f. Your relationship improves

An attitude of thankfulness is instrumental in the reduction of toxic emotions. Unhealthy relationships are a major cause of worry in today’s world. To effectively manage one’s relationship is a boon. Gratitude makes this easier for you. Being grateful makes us emotionally resilient, and you can effectively deal with the toxicity of relationships.

“We must find time to stop and thank the people who make a difference in our lives.” ― John F. Kennedy.

It’s important to be vocal about our fuzzy and warm sentiments for others.

It helps us to become more receptive to the needs of our partners and this sets into motion a cycle of generosity within our relationships. 

Relationships benefit in several ways by practicing appreciation. It also acts as a positive reinforcement of good behaviour towards our partners.

Remember, good behaviour attracts good behaviour.

So what are you waiting for?

Wear your gratitude glasses and see a better world through its lenses.