What’s Your Secret Ingredient?: The Attitude of Gratitude
We’ve all had to struggle.
Every day, you run into things that feel unfair or overwhelming or challenging.
So much sometimes, that it feels like it’s going to break you before it makes you…anything but a crying mess!
As my generation would say, “the struggle is real”.
So, how do you beat the struggle?
How do you avoid the struggle in the first place?
Unfortunately, I haven’t found the magic answer to that yet…or have I?
Not EVERYTHING in your life is awful, right?
There’s something or someone in your life that makes you happy, right?
Take a quick second and ask yourself, “what am I grateful for?”
Actually think about it for a minute…
Now, notice how you feel after focusing on that.
When you start to let the big bad world get to you, it can be a little intoxicating. Or a lot intoxicating.
Defense walls go up and your brain starts to take you into ‘protective mode’.
You start to lose sight of the good because you’re being blinded by so much bad.
Don’t let that blind you from the light!
That light is your gratitude.
All of the things in your life that make you feel happy, loved, supported, accomplished, encouraged, motivated, anything that lifts your spirits.
That light will keep you out of the dark.
When you start to realize the bad outweighing the good, it can be the eye-opener you need to make a change; because from personal experience, being unhappy is unhealthy.
Learning how to express gratitude has spun my world around 180 degrees (so far) and I don’t plan on breaking this habit.
When you express gratitude daily, you are inducing the release of the happy, feel-good chemicals that calm you down and keep you in a good, clear state of mind.
If you practice this in a state of distress or anxiety, it can help calm you down.
If you start to practice this daily, you can literally strengthen your brain to release those chemicals naturally, more often.
Expressing gratitude daily can literally make you a happier person naturally.
By starting to practice this when you’re feeling stressed or anxious or even scared, you are beginning to essentially ‘retrain your brain’ to release those happy chemicals instead of the bad ones.
As I have been noticing, I don’t feel my fight or flight response respond as quickly as it used to.
By expressing gratitude daily, I feel more connected with myself.
I feel more confident in myself.
I feel more self-aware and more aware of what’s going on around me.
I’m more mindful.
I feel I’ve tapped into my intuition more.
I started to get to know me.
Expressing gratitude shows me who I am.
It’s showing me the person I was before all the bad blinded me from the good and is bringing her back to light.
Because I feel more confident, comfortable and connected with myself than I think I ever have, I feel like I can trust in myself and in the decisions I make.
I believe in myself.
I am choosing to cultivate the attitude of gratitude.
As Jack Black’s character, Po, from Kung Fu Panda said “there is no secret ingredient.”
As much as I love that movie and the message it sends, I think everyone should find their secret ingredient.
My secret ingredient is gratitude.
In appreciation for mental health awareness month and for yourself, start to think of one thing daily that you are grateful for. Just one thing, once a day. Or write it down, just once a day, and see how that starts to change things.
What do you think your secret ingredient to your happy life is?
Thank you for reading and being the beautiful, kind humans you are!
P.S. There is an amazing book I read called Unfuck Your Brain by Faith G. Harper. I highly recommend reading this book if you’re feeling like “the struggle is real” for you right now. I was thinking about it quite a bit when writing this so I feel like it should get some credit.
