What if you woke up this morning with only the things you were grateful for? my mother asked. I couldn’t help but think that I’d still have a good number of things present in my life, but that in the long run, that there are things I wouldn’t have; things that I do love that I’d miss. Then, I couldn’t help but think that there were so many people I knew of who would wake up with absolutely nothing.
This is where I started to develop an attitude of gratitude. Every night, I’d take to the time to list off the things I was grateful for. It started off with very broad mentions of family and friends, and a few items I really enjoyed. It then shifted to specific mentions, focused on my day-to-day life which happened to take much too long, and allowed me to forget. I started to stress out about forgetting something or someone, since it had become such a staple part of my day. I felt the need to list off the things I was grateful for because they deserved to be acknowledged as an influential part of my life.
To this day, my list has morphed and shifted into a numbered recognition of important aspects of my life; some specific, and some more general. It takes me roughly a minute to two minutes a night to list everything off, but I sleep soundly once I’m done. Ever since I’ve started to recognize the blessings in my life, I’m so much happier than I was before. I’m more optimistic and open, and less stressed. When things don’t go as planned when I’m travelling, I’m simply happy that I got to my destination safely. If I didn’t get the job I applied to, I know that I’m grateful that I’ll get a job where I can make the biggest difference.
It’s a shift in perspective and an acknowledgement of the blessings you have. If we are grateful for what we have, we will be happy wanting less. If we are happy wanting less, we will be free to notice more of what the world has to offer. You begin selecting people, and places, and things that mean more to you, and in turn you can clean up your life for the better; if it isn’t worth adding to your list, it isn’t worth keeping in your life. So, try taking a moment every single day to name the things you are truly grateful for in your life, and let yourself be amazed by the change it brings you!
