Attitude of Gratitude

If you grew up like me, you were reminded constantly to always be thankful for whatever you had and was given. Anytime a birthday or Christmas gift came, the name of the giver and the gift description was written down. Within a week or two, a thank-you note was sent per my Mother's instructions.   As a 6 years old, I didn't really understand why the tedious task of writing 20+ painstakingly handwritten notes were necessary for every little gift I received.  However, despite my protesting, Mom's preference won out in the end and I became as much as you can at the age of 6 a competent and high producing thank-you note writer.  That example and guidance from Mom translated into a life long habit of sending thank you notes, texts or emails.  In a nutshell, I have learned to give credit where credit is due.  As well as having a mindset of thankfulness and reciprocity whenever I am given something. 

I have noticed that this attitude of gratitude is usually focused towards the material items human beings give us instead of the blessings we have before us in our life.  It is more of a social construct and expectation then a mindfulness practice.  Very rarely do individuals take time to focus on what blessings they have and what has been improved in their lives. There at times to be way to be upset, anxious or disappointed in. We too often take for granted all the wonderful things we take part in everyday and that life could be much worse then it already is. Today, during my daily meditation practice I was focusing on gratitude and one thing I was thankful for that I did yesterday.  I meditated on a good conversation I had with a loved one about something that was bothering her and how I was able to positively affect her life by listening wholeheartedly and give the best advice I could for the resolution of her problem.  I was grateful for this person in my life who had given me the opportunity to reach out and touch the world around me. On completion of my meditation session, I realized that I felt intrinsically more at peace and happier then I did when I had started my day. Those 5-10 minutes of gratitude meditation positively affected my entire outlook on the day. My coffee seemed sweeter, my interactions with co-workers were more pleasant and internally I felt more collected and calm. It's amazing what a small investment of time to yourself can do to upgrade the rest of your day.

Still not convinced to add gratitude into your mindfulness practice?   According to the article "Why Gratitude Enhances Well-Being: What We Know, What We Need To Know" by Robert A. Emmons and Anjali Mishra at the University of California-Davis the benefits of gratitude are staggering:

1. Facilitates coping with stress
2. Reduces toxic emotions resulting from self and social comparisons
3. Reduces materialistic strivings
4. Improves self-esteem
5. Enhances accessibility to positive memories
6. Builds social resources
7. Motivates moral behavior
8. Encourages spiritual mindfulness
9. Facilitates goal attainment
10. Promotes physical health

Who wouldn't want all 10 of these in their life?  If they didn't motivate you to focus on at least one thing you're thankful for each day, then I don't know what will. What are you thankful for today? I would love to hear!