How Gratitude Can Make You More Resilient
Now, more than ever, it is essential.
Gratitude is easy when life is good.
When life is hard, it’s far more challenging to look around and see the beautiful things. But it turns out that gratitude as a practice is most necessary in these hard times. Gratitude can improve our quality of life so significantly when we’re struggling that we should all be prescribed a daily practice during this pandemic.
If you’re struggling right now (and honestly, who isn’t?) it might feel odd to have a prescription for gratitude given to you. Be grateful, now, when everything is so hard, when I’m facing so many challenges, and many of the best things in my life are not available to me?! Yes, now, more than ever, it is essential.
Gratitude isn’t toxic positivity. It doesn’t ask us to deny what is real and challenging our lives: it means consciously choosing to look around and notice the positive things that are also occurring in your world. When you are not doing anything in particular, your brain shifts into the ‘default network’ mode, whose primary function is to constantly scan your environment for possible threats. This happens at a background level, of which we have no conscious awareness. We’re always on the alert for negative threats that…
