Living out of gratitude can change our life.  Experiencing gratitude lifts our mood, makes us feel more positive, resolves stress and bodily tension, improves sleep and our outlook on life, and draws people towards us. Therapy can help you add gratitude to your life.

So what gets in the way of our feeling grateful? Barriers to gratitude include:

Living out of our adopted negative patterns, finding ourselves in a victim role and being too busy to feel grateful.  Yet, gratitude is our natural state.  Look at young children and the joy and gratitude they derive from the simplest of things – a smile, an ice cream cone, seeing a flower or a puppy dog.

How do we overcome personal barriers to gratitude? In therapy, we address these:

  1. With respect to living out of our adopted negative patterns or feeling like a victim, we begin by becoming aware of our state, naming the pattern, asking ourselves what the negative pattern is doing to me? Where and from whom did I learn this negative pattern? Our adopted negative patterns are just that – adopted – they are not who we really are in our essence. With awareness, we can move into self compassion and forgiveness for acting out of our negative patterns or victim stance, and then we decide to replace our unproductive patterns with more positive behavior.
  2. If we realize we are so busy that we have become ungrounded and are not living out of gratitude, we can use our breath to get back in touch with our True Self (as opposed to our ego self which so quickly reminds us of what is wrong with those around us). We cultivate conscious breathing to become more mindful. Breathing helps us slow down and be present in the moment, drawing us into healing experiences and increasing our sense of positivity.

Cultivate gratitude by thinking of several of the following:

  • a recent pleasant surprise
  • an exchange of kindness
  • a delicious taste I relish
  • someone whose smile or laugh makes me happy
  • a song that moves me
  • a particular weather that lifts my spirits.

Make it a habit to notice things for which you are grateful. Practice feeling gratitude for the simple gifts that each moment can bring.

Contact Elizabeth Pankey-Warren for therapy and counseling if you find that you have gotten into a negative space and want to cultivate gratitude and reset positivity in your life.