Gratitude Or The First Step To Happiness

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Gratitude. What's this? Long-term or momentary feeling about who did us good? Yes, but not only. Gratitude is a big, deep, all-consuming feeling that carries incredible power, energy, and resource. It is difficult to overestimate its importance in our life.

In the religions of the world, prophets urge us to pray, including, they talk about prayers of gratitude - gratitude for our daily food, for the day lived, for the night after which we woke up … And, perhaps, it is not casual.

My experience of gratitude, deep gratitude, began with the fact that in the process of researching materials about personal development, biographies and autobiographies of people who reached certain heights in their lives and shared their experiences, I was able to identify several main things that most of them said in that or some other form.

One of these things was Gratitude - daily gratitude; deep or superficial gratitude; voiced to someone or felt only inside. And so, in one of the books there was an instruction, the essence of which was as follows: “Take at least a few minutes each morning to remember everything for which you are grateful in this life. Make a list, if you like, and repeat the list aloud, or at least mentally, daily. But repeat NOT automatically, not memorized. As you repeat, FEEL this gratitude. Feel it inside, somewhere deep in your heart, in your soul. "

And I made such a list. The first time I reread it every morning, trying to generate this inside of me feeling of gratitude … From time to time I wrote some new points. And then, when it gradually began to work out feel, I looked into the list less and less. Just after waking up, I remembered everything wonderful that is or was in my life. I didn’t repeat the entire list. Just yesterday, for example, I was grateful, first of all, for my wonderful friends or successful negotiations at work, and today only for the fact that I slept well, rested, and this new day met me with gentle rays of the sun. Every day I repeated certain points, just looking deep into myself and finding them there. The list served only as an auxiliary tool in the beginning to develop the habit and skill of FEELING GRATITUDE.

Maybe you say: "Easy!" Maybe. But for me personally, in the beginning it was very difficult. She took a paper, a pen and … scratched the back of her head. Hmm … What am I grateful for this life for? The intentions were strong, so my list began somewhere like this:

I am grateful:

• Because I am healthy, I have arms, legs, I can independently move in space.
• For my wonderful friends who are always with me, in joy and sorrow.
• For the fact that I have a roof over my head.
• Because I can feel this world - I can contemplate the beauty of this world, enjoy the wonderful sounds of nature or good music, inhale the aromas of flowers and freshly cut grass …
• For the fact that I am a free person and can freely dispose of my life at my own discretion.
• For my skills and experience gained throughout my life.
• …

The list was gradually supplemented and grew to an impressive size. I began to feel gratitude both for the global, big and important, and for the small wonderful things and moments in my life. Gradually, it grew into something more than a morning ritual. Yes, I continued to do this in the morning - after waking up, during morning coffee or breakfast. And at the same time, I began to see how much wonderful there is around me, I began to feel gratitude and joy in various moments of ordinary days - when something good happened unexpectedly or saw the smile of a random passer-by, or when I was enjoying a delicious meal or when I was contemplating the sunset or when I saw good results of my own activities …

It has become more than a habit, it has become a part of my daily life, a part of me. And I felt how I am filled - I am filled with the joy of life, deep calmness, love and trust in the world and people. I understood and felt that in fact I was already happy, happy inside, regardless of external circumstances. This does NOT mean at all that all my previous desires and aspirations have disappeared, and all dreams and plans have come true as if by the behest of a magic wand. And at the same time, it was not a feeling of lack, lack or emptiness, as before. These were desires for improvement and movement forward on the basis of all the beautiful things that have already been in my life.

It seems that gratitude gradually turned my world upside down. I began to perceive the world through a different prism, began to focus my attention on the good and pay less attention to the negative aspects (not ignore, but pay less attention). And, it is quite possible that this is only a subjective impression, but Gradually, positive changes began to take place in my life.

Followed by deep inner peace and joy new opportunities began to come, more and more joyful and kind moments began to happen. I became more open to new experiences. Perhaps because this deep inner peace gradually replaced anxiety and fears of failure. I will not say that they have disappeared. No, from time to time I, like every living person, felt anxiety, fear, anger, and even despair. However, there were significantly fewer of them, their strength was weakening, while the strength of peace, joy and happiness grew. My faith grew that everything would be all right, no matter what happened. My faith in myself, in people and in the good of this world grew.

It seems that with gratitude I started some kind of wheel, which was gaining in size and speed: gratitude for what already exists - the arrival of new wonderful moments and opportunities - and again gratitude for what is and comes - and again the arrival of new miracles … At the same time, I developed the habit of getting carried away and enjoying the beauty of this world in small things, worked with my thoughts and emotions, listened to myself a lot, visualized the realization of my aspirations and, of course, acted. But, the starting point, the primary condition, was precisely gratitude.

I am deeply grateful to the Universes for living. This warm feeling somewhere deep in the chest fills the soul with a colossal life resource. AND you can try to be grateful for everything that is already there and be filled with strength for an easy and enjoyable journey along the road of life.