Thank you!
Two words. Yet they are two very powerful words that can create a powerful impact.
You must have heard these two words at least once in your life, if not often. When you do hear these words, how does it make you feel? What kind of feelings do these words evoke?
What about when you say them? How does it make you feel? Does it make you feel needed, wanted, or maybe appreciated?
Why is gratitude so powerful?
What Is Gratitude
The dictionary defines gratitude as thankfulness or the act of showing appreciation. Others describe it as returning a good gesture.
As researchers explained it, gratitude comes from recognizing that people received something good in their life from another person or from divine intervention.
Gratitude is not an innate trait in mankind. It’s a virtue one needs to learn.
Why Is Gratitude So Powerful?
Gratitude can transform your past, your present, and your future. If this is not happening, you are not reaping the benefits of gratitude.
Your past shapes your present and your future. Whatever actions you did in the past affect your present and future life. According to the Law of Attraction, like attracts like even if you do not realize it. You attract both positive and negative vibes, depending on the energy you surround yourself.
If you are full of negative energy, then you attract negative vibes. Gratitude can change that. If you learn to appreciate everything around you, you will feel more contented. When you are contented, you would not feel envy or judgmental. Then you will have a happy life.
Do not live in the past. Live in the present. Be grateful for the things you have. Having an attitude of gratitude allows you to recall the past while your mind centers on the gains. Your experiences should inspire you to move forward.
Let go of the past and do not let it define you. Focus on the present and use the past as a lesson to help guide the present. Life is not picture perfect. You are likely to meet adversities and inconveniences. Face these challenges positively. Instead of looking at it as adversity, look at what you can gain from it.
Appreciate the things you have now. If you want to move forward, be thankful for the opportunities that come your way. Focus on what you can do with those opportunities instead of looking at the circumstances around you.
You will always face new challenges, and it will be no different in the future. Do not focus on these challenges, but instead focus on what you can do about them.
Every day, be thankful for the things you had and continue to have. Gratitude is the key to reshaping your past life, making you feel good about the present, and being optimistic about your future.
10 Powerful Benefits of Appreciation
Researchers have proven that showing gratitude can give many benefits that promote overall health. The benefits could spread to your health, character or personality, emotions, social life, and career.
Here are 10 of the most critical benefits of why gratitude matters so much.
Makes You Positive and Happy
Gratitude is consistently and actively linked with greater happiness. Happiness as a benefit has the most research and solid evidence.
A leading researcher on gratitude found that giving appreciation can reduce various negative emotions. In fact, the research also showed simply writing down your gratitude can inspire positive thoughts.
Practicing appreciation can teach you to be thankful for every little thing you have. This really makes sense. When you feel gratitude, it gives you a feeling of euphoria. When you show appreciation, it makes the recipient smile, and in turn, it makes you happy.
Happiness and positivity help improve your overall condition.
You Easily Bounce Back (Resiliency)
Negative thoughts can affect your behavior adversely to the point of trauma. Gratitude can help you overcome trauma. This was proven in a study made on war veterans who experienced trauma. It was found that war veterans who experienced higher levels of appreciation showed a lower rate of trauma.
Gratitude makes you more resilient, allowing you to bounce back from whatever funk you are in.
People are never contented. The mind has been wired to succeed, and it is in your nature to want more. There is nothing wrong with that if you know how to appreciate what you already have.
Appreciation of what you now have would help you manage any potential failure. You can bounce right back because you know there are still things you can be thankful for.
Improves Mental and Emotional Health
Stress can put a heavy strain on your mental state. Gratitude strengthens positive emotions, helping you manage stress better. Positive emotions trigger happiness. When you are happy, there is no room for negativity.
Appreciation triggers a chain reaction of good vibes that help lower your stress level. The continuous practice of gratitude can become a habit, and help strengthen your mental state.
Better Personal and Social Relationship
Since you have a better grip on your emotions, you can also gain better personal and social relationships. Your family is your critical support system, but your negativity can drive them away. Your friends can alienate you because they cannot deal with your negativity.
Learn to appreciate family and friends. Their presence means they still believe in you. That is enough reason to be grateful.
Gratitude can also improve romantic relationships. Show your partner that you appreciate everything they are doing for you, even if it looks mundane. Appreciation is the best way to show your love.
Reduces Aggression and Enhances Empathy
When you do not show appreciation, you are never contented. Negative thoughts can build up, and you start turning aggressive and distant.
Gratitude turns you more emphatic and more generous. As you learn to appreciate the things around you, you become less self-centered. You become more giving since you feel you already have so much.
You have an abundance in life and can afford to be generous. You can understand others who have less than you, turning you more sympathetic to their plight.
Increases Energy and Improves Physical Health
The benefits of gratitude are not limited to your mental and emotional health. The positive vibes that result from your appreciation of the things around you can help you mentally, emotionally, and physically.
Your physical health will improve because you feel lighter. You exercise more, so you turn fit and have a better immune system. Without the mental stress, your mind is at peace so, you sleep better. You accomplish your goals because of the extra boost on your energy.
A published study showed that practicing gratitude can even reduce aches and pains.
Builds up Self-esteem and Confidence
Self-esteem and self-confidence are two more benefits of gratitude. Appreciation of the things you have makes you feel better about yourself. You feel more blessed and lucky.
A study showed athletes increased their self-esteem after showing gratitude. Other studies showed you can reduce comparison by thinking of things you are grateful for.
You don’t feel envious of other people’s accomplishments because you value your own. You learn not to compare because you are confident with your own self.
Enhances Spiritualism and Manifestation
People know that everything around us is owed to a higher being, who gave mankind so many things – the air you breathe, the sun, the stars, the animals, the plants, the trees, and so much more.
When you give gratitude, you glorify the creator; it helps deepen your faith. It opens your eyes to the beauty of the world the creator gave you.
Gratitude opens your spiritual eyes. It allows you to see that a higher being has a hand in everything that happens around you.
With gratitude, we take stock of all that the creator has given us. It opens our eyes to his generosity. It brings our lives great joy and more meaning and in turn enhances our spiritual life.
Gratitude also makes you a better person. As your personal relationship improves, your relationship with the higher being deepens.
Being a better person helps you be more positive. It helps erase your limiting beliefs and makes you attuned to the positive frequencies of the universe. As a result, it triggers manifestation.
Brings You Abundance
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The power of thankfulness can bring so much abundance. You learn to recognize the great things you have in life that you have never seen before. You will realize that you are far richer than you thought.
Gratitude changes your perception as you let go of negative thoughts and focus on abundance. You feel more abundant because you appreciate everything you have instead of hankering for what you don’t have.
The mindset will open yourself to new opportunities. You will be more creative, inspired, and your relationships will flourish.
A lifestyle of gratitude will constantly reward you. It will attract more things, better people and relationships into your life.
Keeps You Grounded
In the 7 chakras, the first chakra is the root chakra, and it keeps you secure and grounded. An imbalance in the root chakra could affect your physical and emotional stability.
You learn to appreciate others and do not compare yourself to them. There is no envy or judgment because you can accept you are not perfect.
Comparison breeds envy. It overshadows all the wonderful things you have but with gratitude, you find contentment.
Gratitude allows you to let go of all negative habits, thoughts, and feelings. You focus on the improvements and not on being perfect.
With gratitude, you can live happily in the present. What you thought to be scary and unfamiliar will feel like home.
Why Is Gratitude So Powerful: Your Takeaway
Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Gratitude is a virtue slowly diminishing in modern times. Sadly, most people focus on things they want but don’t have. People envy what others have and never take the time to be thankful for what they already have.
So, why is gratitude so powerful? Appreciation is the main reason why gratitude is so powerful. When you learn to appreciate every little thing you have, that is the only time you can reap its benefits.
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