When you feel grateful and appreciative you are operating at a higher state of awareness that only leaves room for those thoughts and emotions that feel good. We all want the same thing – to feel good. Yet often we decide that we will only be able to feel good after certain predetermined conditions are met. What would our life be like if we could feel good regardless of external circumstances?
There can be times when being grateful is easier said than done. How is someone supposed to find gratitude and appreciation after losing a job, their marriage or their health? Though the circumstance may not be what you would have chosen, it is a reality and it must be dealt with. We can try to distract ourselves from the pain with blame or avoidance but eventually, we must face it. When you start looking to find reasons to justify your pain, ultimately you are looking to find a way to feel better. Just perhaps not in the most constructive way. Finding the good, even in an awful situation, is another, healthier way to work your way towards a better feeling.
In most situations there is a good and a bad. Focusing on what you do not like only serves to keep you where you are. Bringing your attention to what is working, and finding aspects that you do value and can appreciate, bring you to a higher state of well-being. Redirecting your focus does not mean that you should ignore the things in your life that are not working. Take notice of things that do not serve you but do not dwell in the feelings that keep you frustrated, stressed, and underwhelmed or overwhelmed. Bringing your attention to the good in your life can change your energy and the energy of your circumstance.
Regardless of where we are, or what we may be doing, there is always something in our life worthy of our gratitude and appreciation. When you find the good in a less than ideal circumstance, it allows you to gain a new appreciation for your life. Appreciating life exactly as it is brings us into the energy of gratitude, allowing us to see and feel the blessings in our lives. As you find something to appreciate in your life, you feel better about your life. Every time you appreciate something and you feel good about it, you begin to open yourself to receive more of the things that you are grateful for.
Practicing gratitude in even the most troublesome of situations can open you to the energy to find your way to a better feeling. When you are in a state of gratitude your resistance to all that would make you feel good melts away. Even when the external conditions are less than ideal, you can put yourself in the position to find your way to a better feeling by appreciating what is working in your life.
“When you fully appreciate everything as it is, without judgment, you may find yourself in awe of the brilliance and perfection that is your life.” (Dr. Julie Doobay)
Copyright Dr. Julie Doobay 2020
