Can gratitude really empower you? Yes it can and you will discover how in this chapter. In the last few chapters you learned that having an attitude of gratitude will make you happier and see the positive side of things in your life.
When you are grateful this will also help in social situations as you will come across as a more compassionate and generous person. There have been plenty of studies showing that an attitude of gratitude provides physical and psychological benefits.
When you practice gratitude regularly it can help you to become healthier. Your immune system can benefit from your attitude to gratitude and this will lead to other health benefits. It is very likely that you will have more energy for life when you start being grateful on a consistent basis.
From a psychological perspective having an attitude of gratitude can help you to understand that life is all about the moments that you experienced and it is not about just reflecting on good or bad things.
Let’s say that you have been in a bad car accident and you have broken an arm or a leg. Instead of focusing on the pain and inconvenience of this you will be grateful that you survived the accident and that you still have life.
Gratitude drives Optimism
With persistent gratitude you will develop a much more optimistic outlook. It doesn’t matter what problems come your way you will always remain positive. You will have belief in yourself to the point that no problem, however large, will dampen your optimism for the future.
People that do not express regular gratitude are far more likely to be pessimistic. When they are confronted with problems they see this as some kind of punishment which fuels their pessimism. This is not a good place to be but unfortunately a lot of people are in this situation.
See yourself in a better light
Another way that an attitude of gratitude empowers you is that it helps you to see yourself in a better light than you did before. When you focus on the good things in your life you are far less likely to dwell on those things about you where you are coming up short. Of course this doesn’t mean that you cannot work on improving yourself – you absolutely need to do that.
Your empathy will get stronger as you practice being grateful more. This will help you to avoid negative emotions such as jealousy when it comes to others. You will be able to recognize the achievements that others have made without conjuring up any negative feelings about this.
An Attitude of Gratitude will give you more Energy
In the fast paced world we live in today it can be difficult to summon up the energy that you need to achieve the things that you really want. By adopting a gratitude mindset and expressing gratitude on a regular basis you will begin to experience a new energy within you.
When you make the transition from negative to positive thinking this is always going to make you feel more energized. You are going to have a lot more energy for a future life that you view with optimism than one that you are pessimistic about.
After a while of regularly practicing gratitude you will find that you are a lot more enthusiastic about life. Your attitude of gratitude provides you with a beam of energy similar to what you experience when you open your curtains in the morning and let the sun into your life.
Gratitude can help you to find your True Meaning
There is a lot more to life than just setting and achieving goals and pursuing various material things. With an attitude of gratitude you will be able to find your path to self realization. With a gratitude mindset you will appreciate others more and you never know this could be your calling.
Being able to support others is always a worthy thing to do. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t pursue your own goals but finding time to be grateful to others will give you a great feeling inside.
Gratitude will Improve your Social Skills
After practicing gratitude for a while you will notice that you possess more positive energy and this will make you more popular with people because your personality will be a lot more pleasant and you will be seen as affable by others.
The result is that you will make friends a lot easier than you were able to before. You will also be able to strike up a much more meaningful connection with certain people and who knows where this will lead.
When you have an attitude of gratitude you will become a more social person who is willing to help others and people will trust you a lot more. Other people will really appreciate the change in you and when you meet new people it is very likely that you will become friends with them because of your gratitude driven personality.