Hey,
This is Ish and today I want to talk to you about gratitude.
So gratitude is a topic that I'm very passionate about and even have the words gratitude tattooed on me just as a reminder to practice this because I think it's very important.
Just whenever I've fallen off of it,
I found some great benefits of practicing gratitude.
And this is a concept that can really transform your life,
As it did for me.
And what is great about practicing gratitude is that you don't need things in your life to change in order for you to benefit from the practice.
So by its very nature,
You can do this practice right now and experience life as a much happier place than you're experiencing right now.
And all the practices,
It's a very simple practice.
You are appreciating the moment right now and finding what is good about your life,
And then making this practice a consistent habit over time.
So this very seemingly small and simple practice can massively change your life in the long run.
And when you practice gratitude regularly,
This can have a very powerful effect on you.
And not only are you happier with less in the world,
Because you're contented with whatever you have rather than seeking more,
But you also reduce attachments to things in the world as well.
And paradoxically,
You do receive more as you tap into this state of abundance caused by being grateful,
Which I'll talk about a bit more.
But before going further,
I like to talk about the opposite of gratitude.
And that is being in certain emotional states,
Where you are feeling ungrateful,
Pessimistic,
And generally have a negative outlook about things in your world.
And this is something I can relate to,
Because I spent the first 20 something years of my life constantly living in the state.
And as a habitual way of being,
These states of being aren't very empowering.
But it's important to see why humans tend to look for the negative.
And this actually comes from living from a survival or fight or flight mode.
So there are many parts of the world,
And different situations where there's a scarcity of resources,
Where there's a lot of fear,
A lot of high cortisol and stress responses,
And competition,
Where it might be advantageous to scan for threats.
So the mindset here is to look for dangers or different threats in the environment,
Just so you can stay alive.
So this is really focusing all your energy on survival.
And the mentality behind this way of thinking is to ask yourself what could go wrong.
So generally in these states,
Your attention is focused on what could go wrong with things,
What are the dangers in the environment,
It does keep you a bit safe.
And again,
This is a protection mechanism.
And we may have inherited this way of being just through conditioning,
Either through society,
Or through generations.
So for example,
If we had grandparents that were very stressed out,
And were in this fight or flight mode,
They may have passed this line of thinking on to our parents who then passed it on to us.
And as mentioned,
While the strategy could have been helpful in certain situations,
It can actually limit us in the world once we go beyond this paradigm of survival.
Because we never actually experience true happiness,
Because we're stuck in this place of lack and scarcity.
And essentially,
After you've handled a lot of your basic human needs,
And there are no imminent threats or dangers to you,
It can be quite helpful to start to train yourself in finding what is good in the moment and savoring that.
So it can be very simple and small,
Such as,
Today I drank a great tea in the morning,
Or I saw a beautiful sunset,
Or I received a hug from a friend today,
Or I had a very nice yoga and meditation session today.
And if you're like me and had a lot of years and years of living in negativity,
This can be very hard at first.
And your brain might actually hurt from thinking of the positives and what things you're grateful for.
It might actually feel that it's very difficult to come up with various reasons to feel grateful.
And when you do practice gratitude,
At first,
You'll find that you can't really do it for so long,
Just because you're conditioned with a lot of negativity.
You have to look for the negatives.
Yet over time,
If you can maintain this practice of gratitude,
Combined with other practices,
Such as meditation,
Then you'll slowly start to acclimatize to finding joy and contentment in your life.
And this is a practice that takes a little bit of momentum at first.
And then over time,
What happens is that certain energies within you will start to lose its grip.
So you lose some of the frenetic energies of wanting things in the world of neediness,
Of grasping or negativity.
Now may not be limited all the way,
And I definitely struggle with that too.
But what you'll find is that you start to experience more of an appreciation a bit more,
And more qualities of happiness and bliss start to seep in into your life.
And the implications behind this practice can be quite huge.
Because once you make the shift from seeing the world as generally a hostile place,
Or a scary place,
Or a place filled with threats,
Over time,
The world is experienced by you as a friendlier and happier place.
Now,
While the external situations haven't really changed,
You'll find that just your internal view changed.
And this is why you might have noticed that if two people go on a vacation together in a nice tropical destination,
One person may be completely enjoying it in the moment,
While the other person will find things to complain about.
And again,
It's not the external situations,
But rather,
Each person's internal view and how they relate to the environment,
And also their relationship with the world.
So from this vantage point of being contented,
Being happy,
And finding more blessings and joy just all around you,
Then you'll start to see more of these qualities come into your life.
And these can have very positive effects to you.
So you'll find that just because you're in a happy,
Contented mood and not needing anything,
Suddenly,
Now people want to hang out with you and talk to you more.
Whereas before,
You might have pushed them away with negativity and criticism.
More people might want to work with you.
More opportunities seem more available,
Just because you have more mental bandwidth cleared up,
So you can look for good opportunities rather than threats.
And the irony is that at this point,
You might not even want more things,
Because you're actually happy with what you have.
But I'm just painting a broad stroke picture of how your life can change,
Because you're starting to change.
So I'd like you to start practicing gratitude every day.
And you can have a journal which you dedicate for your gratitude practice,
And write down 10 things that you're grateful for every day.
And in addition to that,
I want you to stop throughout your day and take a moment to appreciate whatever is going on right now.
So if you're just sitting around and you're drinking a cup of tea,
Actually take a moment and pause,
And really take time to savor the tea,
And relax and appreciate it.
Ah,
I'm drinking tea now.
Or ah,
I'm making this talk right now.
Feels great.
And practice these little micro hits of gratitude throughout your day,
In addition to making this list,
And you'll really see your life start to change.
So I want to hear from you.
Write down in the comments three things that you're grateful for,
And let's start to spread this attitude of gratitude.
Thank you.
