You want to feel grateful – you know you’re supposed to feel grateful. But for some reason, you just can’t.
Gratitude is often talked about as some magical elixir that will make everything better.
‘Count your blessings. When you’re feeling down – just focus on all the good in your life. Don’t look at the bad, only look at the good!’
But what if it’s not that simple?
It can be difficult to muster up real feelings of gratitude, even when life is going really well. You remind yourself of all the reasons why you should feel grateful, but yet the good feelings just don’t show up.
Before you know it, practicing gratitude starts to feel like a chore. You go through your mental list of things you’re grateful for, but it’s only lip service. Deep down, you don’t feel content or truly blessed.
But don’t worry – it’s only natural to feel this way sometimes. Although there are many benefits of gratitude, you can’t expect yourself to feel grateful all the time.
Why Practicing Gratitude is Tough
Gratitude is tough because it requires us to be present. It’s all too easy to get caught up thinking about yesterday or the million things on your to-do list.
If you have a hard time feeling gratitude for the good in your life, practice getting out of your head and back into the present moment.
It’s impossible to feel gratitude when you’re not present in the moment.
Feeling gratitude requires slowing down and taking a step back. When we’re always racing to get to the future, we forget that we have the ability to fully appreciate all that we have right now.
When we can’t get out of our heads, we start to judge ourselves harshly for all the things we lack. Our lives become less about the actual experience, and more about just checking off all the right boxes.
Why Mindfulness will Help You Practice Gratitude
How can mindfulness enhance your gratitude practice? Mindfulness is the art of focusing on the present moment while letting go of mentally judging it.
So instead of trying to control every thought to be a positive one of gratitude. Instead, mindfulness allows us to gently empty our minds of negative thoughts naturally by turning our attention to the present.
This leaves a calm inner space. Then a natural sense of appreciation for what is in the moment can arise. Of course, this feeling can’t be forced or rushed. But with a consistent practice of mindfulness, a natural feeling of gratitude will start to come with it.
Using Mindfulness to Practice Gratitude
Incorporate mindfulness as a daily practice and it will enhance your natural feeling of gratitude.
Turn your attention to where you are now. Resist the urge to ruminate about the future. Breathe deeply. Observe what is happening around you without judging it with your thinking.
Become aware of all your senses. What do you see around you? What does your body feel like? What can you smell, or feel with touch? Get back into your body and the here and now.
Be Gentle with Yourself
Give yourself grace by reminding yourself it’s only normal to fall into a negative mindset. It’s not always easy to practice gratitude even when we know that it’s good for us.
Mindfulness teaches us to slow down and get back into the present moment. By getting back in touch with our deeper selves, we can connect with the part of ourselves that feels peace and contentment. Eventually, feeling gratitude will start to come more naturally.
