There are many, many studies that link happiness and gratitude, basically the more grateful you are the happier you are. I’m not trying to establish the link here I just want to share with you a recent experience I had that made me think about the link between happiness and gratitude.
Recently, after going through the post Christmas blues and some other unexpected events I was feeling very flat, neither happy or sad, just a little indifferent to everything. It wasn’t a nice way to feel, I lacked enthusiasm and energy.
One morning as I walked around the garden I saw some tiny leaf buds on a rose bush, just starting to push through. For the first time in weeks I stopped and allowed that feeling of wonder to flow through me. I immediately felt gratitude for simply being able to witness the new life on my rose bush and suddenly the flow of gratitude started and I began to feel grateful for everything around me, the more gratitude I felt the more things I could see to be grateful for. My mood lifted considerably and I felt a smile spread up from the corners of my mouth.
Sometimes we can overlook what we have in our lives to feel grateful for, our inner sense of wonder can get buried under everyday, mundane things and we start to take the things around us for granted.
It only takes a few minutes a day to stop and marvel at all we have, to feel gratitude and to feel happiness because of that gratitude.
Each day think of three things you are grateful for and say,
“Today I am grateful for….(you choose), it makes me happy……(you say why)”
So for example,
“Today I am grateful for my rose bush, it makes me happy to see the beauty and strength of nature, coming back to life.”
When you say your words visualise in your mind what you are grateful for and feel the gratitude build in your heart center and smile softly to yourself.
Notice how you feel before you say the statement and how you feel after you have said it.
You can repeat this as many times in the day as you want. It is very effective to do first thing in the morning to lighten your mood and last thing at night to help you release stress and have a good night’s sleep.
You may also be interested in my other blog post Being Grateful.
