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Writer's picturejrieswyk

Benefits of Gratitude




I can’t believe how long I lived my life without gratitude. Now my life is filled with it, every moment of everyday and I’ve never been more satisfied or happy with the way things are.


I come from a family that never taught gratitude nor had aspiritual practice except for the hypocritical trip to church on Christmas Eve. I thought it was hypocritical at the time in any case. Now I know it was a strong tradition instilled in my father as a child.


Growing up I claimed to be an atheist by the time I was a teenager. I didn’t really understand the meaning of atheism at the time. You may ask yourself what this has to do with gratitude. This was simply a part of my journey to gratitude.


With no direction and no spiritual beliefs, I spent a lot of time in misery blaming everyone else for my discontent. All my relationships as a teenager and as a young adult, all the way into my thirties, I was in deep emotional agony over why things never went my way. This was one of way of how my mind lied to me. I was never satisfied.


After having my son and a divorce four years later, living back at home with my parents, shoved back in the dating pool, my life had turned itself inside out.


I had to figure out for myself how to survive and be content about the way things were. I did a complete overhaul of what I was looking for in life.


I changed jobs, bought a house, and started living life for myself and my child. Because I didn’t have much and I found myself in the company of a child and no one really to talk to, I spent a lot of time on my own reflecting on my habits and what I believed in. I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life miserable and discontent, dependant on anyone else to take care of me and to make me happy.



So, I found gratitude. It changed my whole life. As the ever wise, deeply caring, Wayne Dyer says, ‘When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.’ It’s a lesson I carry with me always.


I say thank you in my own mind countless times a day. I keep a gratitude journal listing ten things I’m grateful for everyday. I am able to take a moment and be present and appreciate everything and everyone around me. It is grounding and enlightening.

My favorite journal for gratitude is the leuchturm1917 which I use for a bullet journal.


When things seem hopeless, there is always something you can look to in order to brighten your day. Doesn’t matter your situation. You could be grateful for a roof over your head, the sound of rain on the ground, the color of a flower, sound of the birds, etc. Big, or small, there is always something you can find gratitude in.


Once you begin your gratitude journey you feel better, look better, begin to treat yourself better and you will have less tolerance for those who bring you down.

You will find the good in everything and everyone. Instead of getting down about everything that is not going the way you would like it, you'll begin to focus on the things that are going well.


I hope you can find some gratitude in your days because once you start to feel it, more and more will come into your life to be thankful for.


Stay safe out there!

Love, Jenn


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