How Thankfulness Helps Us

"I am thankful for everything in my life."

Repeat this affirmation silently with deep breaths to center yourself.

By nature, I wouldn't necessarily call myself a positive person. It takes work for me to continually switch my mind over to look at the bright side. I can easily stay stuck in a negative mindset, even while knowing I'm choosing that state. When I'm sad or thinking of the past, it evokes strong emotions. Often those emotions are stronger than my desire to see things differently.

As I keep doing the work of reframing things to see the positive, there's so much I can be grateful for. Deeply feeling gratitude is an altered state, because it changes how our mind and body is reacting in the moment. It evokes different emotions that uplift our bodies, minds and spirits.

But staying thankful and appreciative takes work. It's a deliberate act. It's getting back to basics, and completely surrendering to those feelings. What do I mean by that?

One meditation I came across awhile back gave me a really vivid picture of how to think about gratitude. In it, you are asked to start by thinking about the clothes you are wearing.

Reflect on where those clothes came from. Reflect on those who created them. And the people who transported them to where you could buy them. And think about the people who perhaps hung, folded or prepared them for you to have.

How much gratitude can we feel, just for the clothes we are wearing? When you think about all of the hands that went into bringing your clothes to you, you start to understand how easy it can be to feel gratitude for the very simple, basic things we often take for granted.

If you imagine feeling appreciative for people who make your clothes, think about how much more your heart is filled when you think about those you love. Those heart-filled feelings are what gratitude is all about.

The love, thankfulness, warmth and joy we get from practicing gratitude are immense. And they are actually scientifically proven. Many studies throughout the world have measured how gratitude positively affects us.

Gratitude gives us: