For the longest time, I struggled with gratitude. In yoga classes, when the teacher would guide us to “feel grateful” for various aspects of our lives, I’d mentally think of what I should be grateful for, and the actual feeling remained elusive. It made me wonder why it is hard to feel grateful, even when I knew there were things I could appreciate. It was just words, a concept I understood intellectually but couldn’t truly connect with.
Until I started practising it.
The power of gratitude
Gratitude is an incredible tool for bringing lightness into our lives. When practised regularly, it shifts our focus from negative to positive aspects of our experience. A practice that can be done at any day at any time at any moment.
A simple morning practice
Here’s how to begin:
- Start with thinking of three things you’re grateful for each morning. Don’t worry if it feels purely intellectual at first—that’s perfectly fine. These can be anything: a dress you bought, having a roof over your head, a meaningful relationship, or even something as simple as treating yourself to flowers. The scale doesn’t matter.
- Bring your awareness to your heart space. This could be your energetic heart, your heart chakra, or your physical heart (slightly to the left in your chest). Simply focus your attention in that area.
- Notice any sensations that arise. You might feel a slight tingling, warmth, or a sense of expansion. Or you might feel nothing at all—and that’s completely okay too.
Keep trying, even if it starts as just a mental exercise. With consistency, I promise you’ll eventually begin to feel something. And when you do, it’s truly remarkable.
Expanding your practice
Try expanding this awareness throughout your day:
- Set an intention before a walk: “I’m going to look for positive things during this walk.” Instead of noticing bad graffiti or unwanted noise, seek out beauty: a vibrantly coloured flower, a bird’s song, or anything that makes you smile.
- Be present. We’re often so consumed with ourselves, looking at our phones while walking, that we miss opportunities to experience goodness around us. Even on your commute to work, you can find something pleasant if you’re intentionally looking.
- Try to feel gratitude for the little things on your walk, bring awareness to your heart space while and stay there for a while, seeing if any sensation arises. Again if nothing is there, just keep trying.
Over time, this practice shifts your entire outlook. Rather than scanning for danger or negativity (which we’re naturally wired to do), you’ll begin to notice pleasant things that lift your spirits, even in small ways.
Cultivating inner gratitude
The real magic happens when this feeling, the sensation in your heart becomes cultivated within you. Eventually, you won’t need external stimulation to access gratitude, your body remembers how it feels and it becomes a place you can connect with at any time to lift your energy, to change your mood.
Think about how easily we can conjure negative feelings. Just a few unpleasant thoughts can immediately bring us down. The same mechanism works in reverse for positive feelings, but we tend to practise it less or not at all.
Remember:
- Focus on things you’re genuinely grateful for, not what you think you “should” be grateful for.
- Be patient if you don’t feel anything at first—keep practising daily.
- When sensations do arise, notice them fully. Perhaps you feel lighter or experience an internal smile.
- Savor these positive feelings for as long as you can.
Gratitude, like any skill, it needs to be practised. As you strengthen this “muscle,” you’ll find it becomes easier to access feelings of appreciation and contentment in your everyday life and you’ll see how your energy changes.
