Gratitude

Gratitude has been a constant practice for me, something that I have intentionally cultivated these past few years and it has been a game changer pulling me out of a dark space into the light of love and appreciation.

What exactly is gratitude?

There are a lot of definitions we can come up with. We can look in the dictionary to start with. The Oxford English Dictionary states that gratitude is; “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.” Synonyms: gratefulness, thankfulness, thanks, appreciation, recognition, acknowledgement, hat tip, credit, regard, respect

Leaving aside whatever it may be in terms of definitions, the question is:

What does gratitude mean to you?

You are the centre of your world. The meaning you personally assign to anything is the most important one. I would like you to explore your personal definition and connotations of gratitude.

Pause here, take a few minutes and jot down what gratitude means to you.

-Perhaps it’s feeling of thankfulness stemming from an appreciation of what you are currently experiencing. Really simply, it could just be a feeling of thankfulness for reading these words right now pulling your focus onto gratitude; of having the time to dedicate to yourself, to your own growth, expansion, peace of mind, a state of joy and bliss, of evolution.

-Perhaps it’s just a sense of being alive and being able to experience life in its various colours.

-It is, perhaps, going to be the realisation that you are experiencing an unfolding of ever changing, ever present, ever progressing, ever expanding, forward-moving consciousness exploring itself.

Your definition could be very different. In brief, it could be, not taking things for granted, but allowing yourself to experience and appreciate everything and express a thankfulness which expands your heart.

Especially today, in a world of free-flowing information, we are easily overwhelmed and distracted.

Daily, we seek to be surprised, awed, uplifted, carried away, often forgetting that the tiny things, the simple things count too, perhaps much more at times!

Taking a moment to focus on the little day-to-day stuff, really pause and reflect, allow it to seep in and be grateful for it can shift our attention from what isn’t enough to what a wonderful opportunity we have been given in being alive and able to experience life with, not despite, its ups and downs. With, not despite.

With things so freely available to us, especially in the “developed world”, it is really easy to take things for granted, to forget to thank those who provide us with services, thinking it is simply their duty, role or job. Let’s take for e.g. the people who serve us. We easily complain but our appreciation often comes more grudgingly. It is as if they owe us. We have a sense of entitlement, especially when we feel we are paying and are entitled to great service, forgetting that those providing the service are just as human and fallible like us, even at work. It is only when we step into their shoes, when we try to do the same as them, that we realise just how tough it is!

Gratitude allows us to move away from a sense of self-centred entitlement into an all-encompassing space of Grace. It gives us the opportunity of expanding beyond ourselves into a bigger whole. It brings peace to our harried and rushed days. It makes us look up at the sky and rejoice and revel in being alive.

What are you taking for granted that you could be grateful about and enjoy by shifting your focus?

The Achologist is the official online publication for Achology, the Academy of Modern Applied Psychology for professional practitioners and life coaches.