Reasons and Ways to Be More Thankful in Life

Before we get into how to be thankful, let us talk about happiness. A lot of people might argue that they don’t have a lot to be thankful for, which is why we need to think about happiness. What we think makes us happy as compared to what actually makes us happy. A lot of people might think good grades would make them happy while others might think a secure job or probably a life partner might make them happy. According to research yes, these things might make a person happy but up to what extent. Study shows that even after getting good grades and a secure job and even after getting married after a certain point these things do not level up our happiness score. Infect it’s the little things that can make us happy and we have to learn to be more thankful about the little things in life.

One activity that can help us be more thankful is the exercise of savoring. Savoring can be defined as the use of thoughts and actions to enhance the intensity of enjoyment of positive emotions and experiences. Often as we go through life we forget to live in the moment and enjoy the little things in life we worry about the past the future, never really enjoying the moment and appreciating the little things that are happening around us. As we savor the moment, we should notice the little things that can make a day special like the smile of a friend, the kindness of a stranger, the loveliness of a sunset so on and so forth. As we are living our day we should look around and make a little note of what we see and experience. We could note the sounds that we hear in the background, like the sound of kids chuckling and playing, the sound of the birds chirping, the different scents around us like freshly cut grass or the beautiful flowers in our garden. Savoring gives us so many more reasons to be thankful. In order to build a habit, we can practice a simple exercise of writing down one activity that we savored the very day. Through savoring we are able to realize the many reason to be thankful about.

Another way we can be more thankful is by maintaining a gratitude journal. Maintaining a gratitude journal would help a great deal to become more thankful and appreciate what we have. By jotting down the small things that mattered to us from our day, we are able to focus more clearly on what we should be thankful for. The habit of being thankful starts with appreciating every positive thing in life and knowing that there is nothing too insignificant to be thankful for. Every day we should take time out of our busy lives and write down approximately five or ten things that made us joyful that day and that made us appreciate life more. Take a minute to be thankful for. You may need to find moments for which to be thankful. In the office, at school or by walking around in a park if only we could feel the breeze and take the opportunity to relax, put our feet up and muse on how happy these little things in our day to day life can make us. If only we could take some time to observe and notice the ordinary for which we can be thankful for.

We should always show our appreciation towards each other. By expressing our gratitude to others, we are able to nurture an atmosphere of thankfulness which indeed will help us to become more thankful. We often do not remember to appreciate and thank the people around us; we often do not remember to tell people how much they matter to us and how much their existence means to us. For example, we can always say a little thank you now and then to our parents for making us food, sending us to school, taking care of us and practically raising us. We can leave an appreciation note for our teachers for imparting their knowledge on to us or the helpers at our house at school at work or even on the streets, it doesn’t have to be huge gesture of appreciation just a little thank you definitely goes a long way. It is really incredible what sending a little thank you note can do. You don’t have to write a big novel to thank them, just a couple words to let them know what they meant to you and how their contribution, energy and effort made you happy. Thank you not only makes us happy it also makes the other person think about what they are thankful for.

Give back as part of thanks-giving. Apart from letting people know that you’re thankful it’s also about giving back to your community and friends. For several people, giving back to others in their local community is the key to having more thankfulness. This would not only make you more appreciative for the things you may take for granted, but studies have revealed that volunteering to care for others increases our own happiness, and thus our willingness to be more thankful. For example, we can help a friend to study for a subject they are struggling at, we can help our parents by running small errands for them, we can even help by lending an ear to anyone struggling or wanting to talk. If you really want to make a change you can simply volunteer at NGOs where people need care and support not only would they be thankful to you but it will also make you realize and feel grateful for the many gifts of life that you possess.

Make sure to say “thank you” regularly. Using the words ‘thank you’ as some form of mantra or prayer. Speaking the words aloud and voicing it can help cement the feeling of thankfulness in our life. While saying thank you we should try to maintain eye contact and make sure that we are sincere and genuine.

Focus on the purpose of showing kindness. When anyone does something nice for you for example gives you a gift, brings you a hot meal notice how they wanted to bring something positive into your life notice the efforts people are making for you. Somebody gave up their valuable time and energy in order to do something kind and positive for you. We should make a note of it and appreciate the things that people do. This should promote an atmosphere of gratitude and thankfulness giving us more reasons to be thankful.

Another way we can become more thankful is by using the correct words to describe our lives. Usage of negative language and a negative mindset in total can be damaging and can make a situation more tough to be thankful and grateful for. We need to try and get rid of the negative energy and mindset about a situation in order to be grateful and thankful for it. For example, instead of using negative terms we can replace them with more neutral terms so as to not attach an undesirable feeling to it.

All in all, we should have a more positive outlook about life. Being positive will directly help us to be more thankful. We should be kind to ourselves and be positive about ourselves and about the people we are surrounded with. We should accept our little flaws and be grateful for the gifts and talent we possess. Once we discover our true potentiality, we can be truly thankful and grateful for our life. Similarly, if we only focus on the shortcomings of our friends and family, we won’t be able to maintain a healthy bond with them we should look at the positives of every relationship and try to work on the negative. This is how we can be more thankful for the people around us.  

Works Cited

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