Gratitude

Little White Book

Part I and Part II

 
Gratitude is a practice that I believe everyone should do in life. It is a universal practice and more people should be grateful in this world. In a world where everyone wants and needs things or items or experiences or materialistic things. A lot of people in the Western Culture are privilege and get to do a lot of things. We must start bringing conscious awareness to what you get to do. Be grateful for the things we can do, rather than what we can’t control! I say that this practice starts to make you more aware of what you have already all around you. I have been researching many ways to introduce positive psychology into my life and the lives of others and one practice that keeps repeating and must be spread is gratitude. Such a simple practice yet has a profound impact on an individual’s life and way of living.

Throughout my journey, I have been interviewing hundreds of people, talking about all things gratitude. Expressing gratitude and watching others express it too. What people need to realise is that it is more than just saying thank you and expressing it through emails or saying thank you. It is a full embodiment. It must be heartfelt, as Positive Psychology researcher Barbara Fredrickson says, “in order for gratitude to have full effect, it must be heartfelt” over a long-term period.

I have been also researching the works of researchers, coaches, authors and leading experts  in this journey. What I have come to realise is that gratitude has been a big part of their journey and a way of life. Tal Ben Shar introduced gratitude to coaching and positive psychology, through the practice of gratitude and appreciation and has taught this right across the world.

It is more than words, and more of a feeling of love, joy and happiness. What I came to realise is that people all over the world want to feel and experience happiness and people search it through things, experiences, people, travelling, when really it is time to STOP and look around you for once. When we slow down and experience things to the max you start to savour things around you and have a deeper connection to the things and thoughts around you. It creates extensive neural networks.

In a world that has turned upside down with outbreaks of COVID, fear, uncertainty. One thing is for certain: if you have gratitude you don’t need anything else. If you want to cope with stress and trauma, gratitude can assist with lowering the feelings of negative emotions. They say that 25% of the population are stressed or depressed. Expressing gratitude can help with managing difficult situations and stressful times to build resilience and reduce depression.

In my experience, in my interviews, in my connections with others it is a universal language that everyone has within them, just how far you go with it is up to you. What I realise is that this should be the first thing you feel in the morning when you open your eyes.

YOU ARE ALIVE,

YOU ARE BREATHING,

YOU ARE HERE ON EARTH HAVING A HUMAN EXPERIENCE,

HOW LUCKY ARE YOU TO BE ALIVE!

HOW GRATEFUL YOU GET TO EXPERIENCE ANOTHER DAY.

I am so grateful to be alive

Starting your Gratitude journey to happiness and mindfulness is important and I want to actually spread this far and wide with my many different products and services I have on offer, it has been built to be quite an extensive resource library. I have been practicing gratitude my whole life. One thing my mother taught me was to always be thankful and grateful for everything that came my way.

One last thing, the more grateful you are, the more good you can do in the world! It promotes moral behaviours, like helping people, giving more, volunteering, being compassionate, caring about others and becoming less materialistic! This is something that has been occurring in my world as I have become the President for the Queensland Women’s association, Member for Zonta International Women and becoming affiliated with many other community groups to help the less fortunate and give people the best start to life by listening and guiding people on a better journey. My life was not always like this and to see this completely change has been the best experience of my life.