Being Grateful

In my post on Stress being a Killer, I talked about being grateful. In this post, I would like to delve a bit deeper into being grateful and how this can help us to be less stressed as well as being more positive in life.

Being grateful for everything. God has blessed us with everything. How often, or have you ever, taken the time to be grateful for what He has given you? That beautiful sunset, the art work of God, thank Him.

Be grateful for your trials. I know, that might sound strange. Think about it, if life were always perfect and you never had trials, tribulations, set backs, anything of this nature, how would you grow? We grow from our trials and hardships in life, hopefully. We can either take them as something to hate and how dare we have to go through something like that, or take it as a learning opportunity and a growing period. It is your choice how you respond to your trials. It can either be for your gain or determent. They are something to be grateful for. 

Grateful journal. I did talk about this in my post I mentioned above, however, I am going to talk about it again. That is how powerful it is! Take time everyday, if you can twice a day, and write down at least three things you are grateful for. This will get you in the mind of appreciating what you have been given instead of looking at what others have and wishing you had what they have. We need to stop comparing ourselves to others. Look at all of the great and amazing things you have accomplished in life, all the things to be grateful for, everything you have been given. When doing this every day, it will help us to begin to look for the good in everything. You will shift your focus from the negative to the positive.

Here is an exercise in gratitude. A month ago we celebrated Christmas! Did you write Thank You notes for the gifts you received? A hand written Thank You, put a stamp on it and mail it. I can not even begin to tell you how important this is or what it will mean to the people you to this for. They have to be meaningful and from the heart, that is the catch. Not only will this show the other person your gratitude for what they gave you, but you will also be improving your health. When you write your Thank Yous, notice how much better you feel, what changes it makes in your day, your shifts in attitude.  

How being grateful can heal you. When you are positive, you have good energy flowing through you, as they say. When we are grateful, we feel better about ourselves, have more energy, eat better, less stress, we are positive. All of these things help to contribute to health. We allow our bodies to heal when we are grateful.

Happiness is a choice. I know people like to tell me it is not. I am depressed, anxious, unhappy and that is just the way it is. Read this post. Or, they like to tell me I have not had depression, anxiety and therefor I do not know what it is like. I have had depression. Some pretty serious depression, a lot stemming from my very sever hypothyroidism. The difference between me and these people, is I did not let it destroy me. I did not say, this is who I am, just depressed. This is my personality. I did something about it. The biggest thing I did, was choosing to be happy. Yes, happiness is a choice. You can choose it or reject it. If you reject it, do not sit there and tell me you are just depressed and that is my personality. Try again... Happiness is a choice. I am not saying this will fix everything. It will have a dramatic impact on your life and make it easier to go through your struggles.

At the end of the day, we only have one life to live, why waste it being angry, stressed out, depressed. I choose to make it the best it can be, be happy with where I am in my life, knowing God has me where He wants me. Striving to be grateful for everything I have. And, choosing happiness. What do you do with your day?

In the happiness of Christ,
Jenn