5 Ways Gratefulness Will Change Your Everyday Experience
Practicing gratefulness is one of the most versatile tools in your holistic toolbox when it comes to mindfulness. As humans, we naturally want to do better, have better, and be better. This is one of our greatest attributes, but when we focus too much on what we don’t have it can lead us to fall into a state of lack. Approaching life with a “lack” state of mind will snowball and before we know it, we can feel buried underneath thoughts of inadequacy. No matter how much we achieve or gain, it will never give us that state of happiness we were reaching for in the first place.
As pet professionals, we can strive for an array of accomplishments like competing, growing our business, becoming better at our craft, and making more money. Taking time to appreciate how far you’ve come no matter how small the gain can motivate you and give you that much needed boost to keep going.
In this article we will explore five ways gratefulness can change your everyday experience, plus five ways you can practice gratefulness starting today.
Life isn’t so bad after all.
When we feel like there is nothing in our lives to be grateful for, it’s easy to feel like we are just on a hamster wheel, waiting for the day to pass us by. It might seem like bad luck follows us everywhere we go. As stressful as life can get, it’s hard to focus on anything else or show up for others when we’re covered by our own personal rain clouds. Gratefulness helps you turn negative situations into positive ones before they take a hold of you and drag you down.
Instead of becoming stressed out by a bad run-in with a client, you can be grateful for all of your other easy going clients. Instead of feeling nearly defeated by a difficult dog or cat, you can feel grateful for every other passive pet you work with that week. Instead of feeling bummed that you lost a competition, you can feel grateful that you stepped out of your comfort zone and tried. This process of actively choosing to flip your outlook helps you see that it’s not necessarily what happened to you that brought you down, it’s how you chose to interpret it.
Gratefulness Invites More Abundance Into Your Life.
A gratefulness mindset can keep stress at bay, which allows more room for learning and growth. If we feel like life is happening to us, we feel powerless to do anything about it. Choosing to think differently about a situation opens your mind to find creative and constructive ways to do better in the future.
If we choose to feel rolling anger about our bad run-in with a client, the way we choose to handle it could result negatively because the solution was born out of anger. Pulling on our gratefulness of our relationship with other clients, we can find a solution born from good customer service. Choosing to be grateful for your more easy going pets will not only boost your oxytocin levels (that’s the love hormone!) but you can research and try different methods to approach your more difficult pet with a solution born from love. Feeling grateful that you’ve stepped outside your comfort zone will boost your confidence and ignite your passion to figure out how to perform better for the next time around.
Prevents You From Taking Things For Granted.
There is always someone who has it worse off than you. That isn’t to diminish anything you’re feeling, but there are countless stories of people who have persevered through extremely tough situations and still hit their personal goals, or are simply happy with where their life is. We can get so wrapped up in our culture, especially with the rise of social media, that we forget how fortunate we are to have a roof over our head, lights and heat, clothes to wear, a job to go to, the family members and friends that are still alive and healthy, the list goes on. Absolutely anything can be taken away from us in an instant, and that’s even more reason to love what we have to the fullest while it’s here.
Keeps You On Track To Your Purpose.
Anything worth pursuing in life comes with challenges, whether that’s in our personal life or career. Taking a moment to pause and remember why you’re pursuing this in the first place helps keep you centered and grounded in your choice. When I decided I wanted to become a groomer and have my own salon, I didn’t know anything about grooming. I had a job I didn’t like and I wasn’t making much money. As much as I wanted to quit, I found gratefulness that I had spent months trying to land any job working with dogs and this place took a chance on me. I chose to learn all that I could before finding a better opportunity elsewhere. There were many things I could have complained about (some I did!) but none of it could take away the fact that these places allowed me to learn, and 7 years later I achieved my goal of opening my own salon.
Helps You See The Good In Others.
It can be easy to get caught up in the aspects of others that we don’t like, whether that’s a human or animal. It may stem from having expectations of the way people and animals should act, therefore anything outside of that realm catches our attention. Being grateful for all of the aspects we find endearing can help us accept them for who they are. We are all vastly different creatures therefore we will never like every aspect of every being, and every being won’t like every aspect of us. But when we can focus on the traits of the people and animals that we do like, it will help grow our compassion and ability to work with them.
Ways to Practice Gratefulness
Journal
Keeping a private journal allows you to be open and honest about your life experiences. It’s a great way to look back on where your mindset was a few months or years ago and reflect on how far you’ve come. When you add something to be grateful for at the end of your journal entries, you can see a pattern in your writing of how it has changed your mindset in the following entries.
Tip: There are many digital journals available on the web that can be password protected and sync across all your devices for writing on the go. I have used Day One Journal for several years and love it.
Gratefulness Board or Notebook
Keep a dry erase board or small notebook dedicated especially to writing down what you were grateful for that day. Even if you erase what you’ve written the next day, waking up to your words of something you’re grateful for will help set the tone for the rest of the day.
Tip: I am a fan of the Day Designer Planner that allows you to expertly plan out your day and gives you a space to write what you are grateful for.
Invite Others
If you have children or family members that are interested in the idea, you can go around the table at dinnertime or before bed and everyone can say what they are grateful for. This can help boost family morale. You can even combine this with the last idea and keep a large dry erase board where the whole family or your team at work can write what they were grateful for when they are ready.
Picture Album
You can start a photo album on your phone dedicated to pictures of things you are grateful for. You can do this all at once or take one photo a day. Eventually, you will have many pictures that can bring you happiness anytime.
Gratefulness Meditation
During a gratefulness mediation, you calm your mind with your breath and begin to conjure images of anything you are grateful for. Notice how it feels on your lips and in your skin. Feel that feeling fully while you’re in a quiet, calm state of mind. Remember that feeling and carry it throughout the rest of your day or allow it to help you get a good night’s rest.
Join the Discussion
How do you practice gratitude? What is something you’re grateful for that can always pick up your mood? Post a comment below, you never know who you’ll inspire.
