A few months ago, I wrote a post about the positive impacts that gratitude can have in our life. I was quite inspired that morning, as I woke up with a clear intention.
Today I'm going to write a post about gratefulness.
And I did it, indeed. It was a very nice and positive piece.
Several months later, I'm back with a question.
How much did I learn from that, do I really experience gratitude in my daily activities?
Well, at a first glance, I would say no: from time to time, I still find myself repeating those grumpy, nervous, or moody old patterns of the past. There are days in which I'd only stop, doing nothing but complaining.
Those are the days where I feel the pressure and the uncertainty about present and future events.
But I am also aware of the fact that the human brain is very able to trick us. Our minds can be our worst enemies and make us believe that bad times, pain, and sorrow count more than moments of joy, happiness, and relaxation.
What if we started giving more importance to little moments of joy and serenity? What if we started thinking instead that the experience of being truly grateful in the past has an irreversible impact?
It's not that easy, for sure. But is is definitely worth to try.
Yesterday I went out for a ride with a very old and rusty bike, and I thought I could give it a chance... maybe the tires would resist to a 40 minutes ride, I thought... well, I was wrong.
I had to walk back home with a flat tire. It was not a long walk, let's say a hour or so, but, as usual, this led me to a reflection.
(I can't get rid of it... when you run a blog and you are passionate about writing, every situation in your daily life turns out to be a source of inspiration for a reflection!)
Well, at first, I was surprised by how I managed to stay calm, while the past me would have made a big deal of the situation of having to walk back home and losing my precious time. My thoughts immediately went to gratitude.
Gratitude for having a place to come back safe and sound. For the opportunity to walk back home without being in a hurry. For the fact that the weather was sunny and warm (imagine to walk back home carrying your broken bike in the middle of a storm!)
So, here's how the idea of a new post - the importance of being grateful pt. 2 - came to my mind.
To make it short: even if in our darkest moments or in the most stressful situations, there are still days in which we can experience moments of pure gratitude and happiness if we are receptive enough.
And those moments have the huge power of making our days a little bit happier, serene, or somehow better.
(Well, don't get me wrong: I don't mean to say that this is a dark or stressful moment for me. But, for sure, moments of happiness and sincere gratefulness are not very frequent in this period.)
Let's try... it's almost 1 p.m. here, and since I have woken up today, I have already:
Opened the window and saw a beautiful and warm sun;
Enjoyed a delicious tea (yeah, I love my morning tea!);
Hugged the people I love (don't underestimate the power of hugging!);
Talked with some friends on WhatsApp thanks to a stable Internet connection (I really miss my friends, but thanks to technology, I am able to talk with them very frequently);
Had a warm, relaxing shower, and I feel very lucky for that. Sometimes, while backpacking around Europe, I couldn't take a shower for days, and when I was finally able to, feeling the flowing water all over my body was a beautiful sensation;
Did some gymnastics which made me feel much better.
The day is long, and there's still something more to come.
Guess what? I noticed that if I focus on those positive things I am thankful for, I feel better and start looking at my day in a different way.
Maybe you are experiencing a painful or stressful moment. Maybe you are experiencing grief or sorrow.
I feel you.
It's really hard to find sparks of hope when you are going through sorrow.
But I really wish you will have the strength to take a look at your surroundings in a different way - notice something you didn't pay attention to, do something you were not doing before (even going to a different grocery store).
Back to what I have written in The importance of being grateful (part 1), there are many, simple, rewarding actions that can help you enhance your positive feelings:
Leave a gratitude post-it to your colleagues or house mates;
Sing a song (it doesn't matter if you are not able to sing - just do it! Singing is one of the things that makes me feel better - and I am definitely not a professional singer!);
Bake a cake for someone you love or appreciate;
Volunteer (at a music festival, in a kindergarten, in a permaculture farm, anywhere you want!);
Take care of a pet or a plant.
There are so many more things you could do, but the most important thing is to really feel it: next time you say "thank you", try to experience the feeling, to embody it.
I wish your day is going to be full of little sparkles of positivity, nice and cute moments, and gratitude for a little thing you were not aware of.
Hugs,
C.
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Thanks for reading this!
The cover picture is from shotstash.com.