June 18, 2024

The Real Power of Gratitude

You have probably heard by now the power that gratitude has over your life, but you may not fully understand it yet. What does it really mean to be grateful? What is the power behind it? Before you try to grasp the absolute power of gratitude and what it is, it’s important to understand what it’s not.

What Gratitude Isn’t

If you think that false gratitude is the way to getting what you want, you couldn’t be further away from the truth. False gratitude does not help you realizer your dreams, it confuses them. What does it mean to have false gratitude?

False gratitude happens when you walk around pretending to be grateful when your underlying subconscious mind is seething, bitter or still angry. A perfect example is feigning happiness for an ex who is getting remarried or for a co-worker who got the promotion you were wishing for. Rather than take out your frustrations and send negative energy anyone’s else’s way, take a moment to recreate the negative vibe.

When you recreate the negative vibe, you attract more positivity toward you. It’s perfectly fine to be disappointed, remorseful and even a little jealous, but don’t stay there with those negative emotions too long. Process it; deal with it and move on.

Where Does False Gratitude Show Up

When you are pretending to be grateful without recreating the negative emotion underneath it, your body won’t be fooled. Your body will store those negative emotions and have them show up elsewhere (e.g., stress inducing disease like stomach issues or chronic headaches).

What Is Gratitude

Gratitude involves noticing, treasuring, and appreciating the good things, the little things in our lives. The dawning of a new day or a cool breeze on a warm day are things we take for granted but should express gratitude for.

Gratitude is about focusing on the positive aspects of your life, expressing thanks for them, and relishing the joy they bring. When we’re thankful for what we have and aren’t focused on what we don’t have our mental well-being, and by extension, our interpersonal relationships, can improve significantly.

How to Use the Power of Gratitude

When you learn to practice gratitude on a genuine level is when the magic of manifesting really shows up. The key word is genuine. Get in touch with something you are grateful for. It could be an incident from many years ago, it could be something as simply as a sunny day. Whatever it is, find your true, authentic feelings of gratitude.

Focus on those feelings. Close your eyes and visualize why you are grateful. If you are grateful for a rainy day, why are you grateful? Picture the grass grower greener, visualize the flowers blooming. Picture drinking water on a hot and humid day.

Once you begin to focus on why you are grateful and expand that feeling, you will notice that you are more aware of what you are grateful for in other experiences, as well. It takes some practice.

Remember, you’re starting a new habit and new habits take time to form and become aa part of your everyday life.

Next, try to find gratitude in a situation that is seemingly negative. For example, if you have a parent who asks too many questions, you could recreate that into being grateful for a parent who cares about you very much.

While the behavior might be annoying the underlying message is one of unconditional love.

Once you open yourself up to the power of gratitude, you create endless possibilities.

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If you like this content, check out my Substack article on holistic habits that breed well-being at: https://theunreliablemind.substack.com/p/holistic-habits-for-wellbeing