Good day everyone
Welcome back to the Café
Here is a piece of training I shared with a student this week.
I hope you find it helpful.
Practicing Gratitude Part 3
Gratitude to Better Your Relationships
Some recent studies have shown the positive links between the practice of gratitude and the satisfaction and strength of relationships. Gratitude can help you form and maintain better relationships and is the key to relationship success.
When you are genuinely grateful for the person you're with, you are more likely to behave better toward them in your relationship and are more likely to want to work hard to keep your relationship going. Gratitude can also help you enjoy better and cherish the time you spend with your partner, resulting in them feeling more appreciated and more grateful toward you.
To start improving your relationships through gratitude, start by appreciating your partner more consciously. Take the time to notice all the things you enjoy about them, their personality, mannerisms, and actions.
Think about what it is you love about them. Consider why you enjoy spending time with them. When you become more aware of these things, you'll start to notice yourself being more grateful for them.
This is not to say that all relationships will work if both of you practice gratitude. You have to be genuinely grateful if you want it to work. If you don't particularly feel positive about your partner, you will end up struggling to generate an authentic sense of gratitude.
Practicing gratitude can also improve your relationship with yourself. Regular practice can allow you to appreciate better the things that you like about yourself.
Gratitude will also let you become less shallow because you will focus more on the essential things in life. As you practice gratitude, you will begin to eliminate the negative thoughts that you have about yourself and start to look at yourself in a more positive light.
Stop Being Complacent
If you genuinely want to find greatness through gratitude, then you need to do whatever you can to avoid complaining, whining, and expressing generally negative comments. While this isn't to say that you have to work to eliminate all negative thoughts, it merely means that you need to acknowledge your ability to choose what you focus on consciously.
When you refuse to make negative comments, you ultimately take power away from the negative thoughts, eliminating their voice, resulting in them getting less of your mental focus and energy.
If you find the idea of not complaining and expressing negative thoughts a bit challenging, you can participate in a simple exercise. This exercise requires you to not complain about anything for 21-days.
This kind of exercise can be beneficial if you attempt to practice gratitude because it brings about an awareness of negativity in our lives and actively encourages the elimination of negative thinking. If you feel that 21-days are far too long, you can start with the next 24-hours.
For the next 24-hours, avoid expressing complaints and negative thoughts. If you falter, don't give up; take the time to note the complaint and what caused it, then reset the clock and start again.
After the 24-hours is up, you may notice that you have a more positive outlook on life. If you notice a decrease in your need to complain about things in your life, start the challenge again and see if you can make it 48-hours without complaining.
As you continue with your gratitude practice, try to refer back to the goals you set in your journal. Be aware of the mindset you were in when you created them and reflect on the changes you experienced, the challenges you faced, and the progress you've made on your journey to greatness through gratitude.
Remember, gratitude is a choice and a personal strength that needs to be trained and mastered to reap all the benefits it has to offer. Be persistent with your regular practice and keep the idea at the front of your mind if you want to experience fundamental, long-term changes in your life.
Remember, gratitude is as much about giving back to others as it is about helping yourself. By practicing gratitude, you can lead a truly fulfilling and happy life.
Thank you for stopping by the Café. If you found this helpful, please share it with someone who could benefit from it.