Living A Life Of Gratitude: Gratitude is a Positive Energy

This post was written in honor of thanksgiving tradition, for the theme “GRATITUDE” The Wisdom of Gratitude – #1000Speak. http://1000voicesspeak.org/2015/11/19/the-wisdom-of-gratitude

“Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy” Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

Gratitude has been one of my favourite topic. I have always enjoyed speaking about it and also writing posts has been a pleasure. I don’t exactly remember from when I have made it a habit to remain grateful; somehow life situations has made me cling on faith and trust in the almighty, enabling me to always count the blessings in life. Now after so many years in my life, I realize the value of it and have not given up the habit of being grateful. I have always been taught to say thank you, and acknowledge everything that I have and receive with grateful heart.

I have discovered the benefits of being grateful; as I have always been happy because of my grateful heart. Despite challenges in my life, the attitude of gratitude has kept me going and given me the courage never to give up in life.

Being Grateful has its own advantages:

Gratitude helps me to be always happy; thus in return helping me to surround myself with happy people.

Gratitude enables me to believe in myself and find meaning in every experience o life
Gratitude provides me courage to look within and explore my identity and purpose in life
Gratitude raises my energy levels, whenever I feel sad and low; it helps me shift my focus to see the blessings, thus keeping me in good health.
Gratitude teaches me never to take anybody for granted.
Gratitude helps me to acknowledge the contribution of every relationship in my own growth process both in the family and also with friends, colleagues, and service providers. I can’t imagine what life would be without all these people in my life.
Gratitude also motivates me to appreciate small acts of kindness and thus encourages me to kind.
Fills me with awe, wonder, amazement – whenever I look at the sky, the moon, the stars, the trees, the birds and the whole universe
The world appears a beautiful place because of gratitude in my life
Gratitude triggers me to sing, thus keeping me happy, bring smileJ on my face and helping me to stay cheerful.

Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” Henri Frederic Amiel

Some of the ways I practice Gratitude are:

Every night I go to bed with gratitude, no matter what happens in my life; end of the day before I sleep I review the day and pick up all those moments which I want to be thankful for; and lie down thanking the Lord in my heart and sleep follows.

I rise up with gratitude, every morning as soon as I get up I sit comfortably on my bed, become aware of my breath and gratitude just flows- for every part of my being, acknowledging, thanking God for another day, another chance to start again a new “Today”

I try to remain in the state of gratitude as much as I can; constantly reminding myself as I keep moving doing all my work; every time my mind wanders, I keep shifting my focus and continuously checking to ensure that my mind stays positive till the end of the day.

I write thank you letters for loved ones and close friends and also for those who are part of my life; stating how much they mean to me and how lucky I am to find them.

I regularly keep sending thank you messages in whatever ways possible – sms, whatsapp, face book, Email and stay in touch with my friends and colleagues.

I sometimes even make calls and connect with class mates, college friends, childhood friends and express my gratitude and appreciate them.

I acknowledge and pick up small gifts as token of gratitude and appreciation to few of the persons who constantly provide services right through the year for me and our family.

I also practice gratitude while having my lunch; as most of the time I eat alone in my counseling centre and it’s a good opportunity to eat in silence, being aware acknowledging all those involved in getting this food in my Tiffin box.

I ride my bike with gratitude everyday as I go to work, 7 kms from my residence- I keep singing songs of gratitude, luckily for having been in the local parish church choir for a decade, I have learnt so many songs in 4 different languages. I sing in Tamil, sometimes in Telugu, at other times in Hindi and English too. I love the psalms from the bible and I keep singing the psalms as I keep riding and reach my workplace with enthusiasm.

Lastly definitely not the least, I love to express gratitude by writing blog posts, reading gratitude posts, linking and connecting with bloggers who promote gratitude.