Next Level: Gratitude 2.0
There are many scientifically supported benefits of practicing gratitude such as improved mood, better sleep, less stress, and overall well-being through a sustained practice of focusing and feeling grateful. Some methods that support gratitude practices are writing in gratitude journals, guided meditations, spending time engaging in activities that promote gratitude and mindfully shifting your perspective throughout the day.
Here is a helpful article in Psychology Today that highlights some of the benefits and practices of gratitude.
In addition to these core benefits of gratitude, a gratitude practice encourages and strengthens a core spiritual principle of humility. Humility defined by the Cambridge Dictionary online, “the feeling or attitude that you have no special importance that makes you better than others”. It is also important to highlight that a practice of humility also means that you are not lesser than others. I have observed over the years that a common mistake when practicing humility is to lower the importance of yourself, while placing others above you. This misunderstanding of humility can lead to lower self-esteem and practices of self-sacrifice not humility.
Humility reinforces the perspective and understanding that we are all souls living a shared human experience comprised of infinite opportunities to learn, heal, grow and flourish through the beautiful and challenging experiences of life as a human with an expansive and diverse range of thoughts, feelings and emotions.
This is an important reminder that while it may not always feel like it, every soul is doing their best to navigate the journey of their soul in this human experience, which is often defined by pain.
WHAT BLOCKS ACCESS TO GRATITUDE?
THE HUMAN BODY IS DESIGNED FOR SAFETY & SURVIVAL
Challenges accessing gratitude often occur because the physical body is designed for safety and survival, while the spiritual-emotional body is programmed for connection and expansiveness. Safety and survival will often take precedence in life, especially when trauma, pain and fear are experienced and remain unacknowledged and unhealed. Past trauma and pain can linger, which keeps the mind and body in a state of vigilance and monitoring for potential threats, not only threats to the physical body but, especially to the emotional body through emotional attacks (e.g. harsh criticism from others, wondering if you are good enough to get into school, get a job, make the team, have friends, have a romantic relationship, be accepted etc.). The need for safety to survive is a primal instinct and will often take precedence over access to growth, ascension and higher vibrational experiences in life, such as gratitude, joy, compassion, love and light.
Therefore, initiating a journey to heal the emotional body from past hurts is an important and essential way to create more harmony of the physical, spiritual and emotional bodies and access gratitude, as well as other states of positive expansion, connection and relationships.
Heal your past hurts to reduce vigilance, control, defensiveness, and a harsh critical nature towards yourself and others. Create a space within you, where gratitude and other forms of light can flourish.
NEXT LEVEL GRATITUDE 2.0
THE WHOLE TRUTH - THE BIG PICTURE
In addition to focusing on feeling grateful for the “good” things in life that are often positive or make life easier, happier or more comfortable, next level gratitude practices asks us to consider gratitude for challenging and difficult experiences in life as well. This next level gratitude mindset expands our view of the current experience beyond what is easily accessible or on the surface, which is often the pain or stress we are currently experiencing.
Sometimes, we can get into a habit of focusing on only the stresses of our experience and forget that the reason for these stresses come from the blessings we have in our life. For example:
Maybe you were hired for your dream job and now your mind is consumed by all the work and late nights that go with it;
You have children when you thought it was not going to be possible, yet find yourself stressed and exhausted by all the pick-ups, drop-offs and school events, activities and social events;
You recovered from an injury and are able to walk on your own without any support, yet, find yourself complaining about having to strength train everyday to keep you strong and stable.
To be clear, this is not a practice to dismiss feelings of stress, but a practice of expanded perspective. Sometimes the mind is trained to focus on the immediacy of what is happening in this moment and a future moment, it fails to take into the context in which all of these moments are happening in life - the bigger picture.
The next level gratitude 2.0 mindset is a practice of taking mindful moments each day to broaden the perspective of your experience from a narrow focus of what is right in front of you to an expanded awareness of the whole picture, to remind yourself that these stresses exist because of the blessings in your life - a dream job, healthy children, personal health and well-being etc.
THE UNIVERSE / GOD CONSPIRE TO SUPPORT YOUR SOUL’S JOURNEY
A next level gratitude practice is also about developing and strengthening a mindset that the universe / God conspire to support you and that your soul came here to learn, heal, grow, ascend and thrive. From this perspective:
Life is about growth not stagnation;
Things happen for you, not against you;
Challenge and difficulty has the potential to make you stronger and wiser;
Growth is defined by change;
Change comes with discomfort;
Just because something feels painful or difficulty does not always make it “bad” for you (learn how to know the difference);
If you don’t like being uncomfortable, you will most likely resist change, which means you will most likely resist growth.
Spirit often shares that life is like being a high performance elite athlete with a desire and intent to acquire knowledge, skills and practices that support them to access their greatest potential. Thus, they often seek guidance and insight from experts, develop a physical training and nutrition program unique to their body and needs and honors their overall health and wellness along the way. They also train for longevity, which means there are periods of high-intensity training and other periods of recuperation, rest and recovery. They view all experiences through a lens of acquiring knowledge and skills to become stronger, wiser, and more resilient not through the lens of only success or failure.
When we choose to see life as an opportunity to engage in a practice of high performance living as we learn, heal and grow - we may begin to cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude for what we receive from some of the most challenging experiences in life (e.g. wisdom, perspective, healthier thought patterns, emotional responses, and tools; healthier and stronger boundaries; new relationships and opportunities; transformation etc.).
How are you approaching your training program in life?
Are you seeking insight and advice from experts in diverse areas of mind, body and spiritual fitness?
How can you access the learning, lessons and wisdom of difficult and challenging moments in life and trust that the universe / God is supporting you to be stronger, wiser and more resilient?
How is the universe / God conspiring to support you and your growth?
What new way of thinking or behaving is the universe/God asking you to reflect upon, potentially modify or refine? Here are some common themes for consideration:
Address and soften stubbornness, control, fear and anxiety;
Modify and/or heal expectations, obligations, harsh criticism of self and others;
Create and support boundaries for self;
Create and communicate boundaries with others;
Practice more compassion for self and others, less empathy;
Heal and release guilt, fear, pain, anger, trauma through a practice of compassion and forgiveness for self and others';
Seek and ask for help.