Life is like a train. It moves fast, and it doesn’t pause at random points.
Indeed, life is so fast-paced we can barely remember what we ate for breakfast yesterday. They even say, “Life improves slowly and goes wrong fast, and only catastrophe is visible.“ But there’s something that you can do to make the good things surface too, and that’s to be grateful.
Often, people look at those they don’t have instead of those who do, so they tend to forget that they have come far enough already. Of course, there’s still a far, long road ahead, but if you look back, you’ve already gone far, too.
And it only takes a few moments to realize that, amidst all our busy lives. So, in line with this, we would like you to be reminded every day of the little things that can collectively bring you joy. Because at the end of the day, you only have yourself. And it’d be nice to have a happy heart.
On that note, here are four things you can do to be more grateful every day.
Practice mindfulness
One of the reasons people are often ungrateful is that their blessings often slip by their minds. Sometimes, they don’t realize it is coming because it came fast, and sometimes, they don’t see it because they are fixated on something else. Both are valid, but both are not justifiable.
It is human to look at those we want to achieve, but it is selfish and greedy to ignore those we already have. So to avoid that, you can go ahead and practice mindfulness. You can do so by sage burning. Sage burning is the process of burning herbs to make way for clarity in your life.
What it does is take away the negative spirit from your space. If you do it while you practice mindfulness, you increase your chances of being more open to things you used to overlook. Therefore, it can help you be more grateful than before.
Express your emotions and thoughts
Bottling your emotions up brings you no good. The more you bottle them up, the more likely you become resentful and fill your heart with nothing but grudge. So, you need to learn how to express your emotions. That way, you can free yourself from everything that blocks your vision.
When you do so, you can make space for new insights that you may have failed to see. To help you with your expression, you can light a candle up to accommodate you. After all, you don’t necessarily have to express your emotions and thoughts to another person. You can do it to your pet, or you can do it by writing.
There are different ways to express the things you have been keeping inside, and you can explore each of them to know what works best for you. For instance, you can try exercising to release your emotions by making yourself sweat. Also, you can bring your pet to a walk and let them be free, so you’d sweat by chasing after them. It’s really just up to you.
Volunteer
Outside our privilege bubble, there are hundreds of people who are barely hanging on by a thread. When we volunteer and offer a helping hand to them, we are not only helping another human being. We also allow ourselves to see a bigger picture that we may not often pay attention to on regular days.
Volunteering is one of the practices that can drastically change people’s lives on both ends. First, it can help the least, the last, and the forgotten by having people tend to their needs. Consequently, it helps the volunteer be more mindful of their things and eventually be more appreciative and grateful.
When volunteering, one can wear a chakra bracelet to help them see things with an open mind. Chakras help make you slowly get what your heart desires by focusing on things that matter. When you wear one in an accessory while volunteering, you can see the bigger picture. Consequently, you can learn how to be sympathetic and affectionate.
List the little things
Now that life has seemed to turn into something very complicated, appreciating the things you have around seem to be impossible. However, when you look at the little things, you’d end up realizing you have the things you only used to ask for before. Nevertheless, you still tend to forget it when you are met with the commitments of life, so we highly recommend that you list them down instead.
Writing things down and taping them somewhere that you can see or writing them on your Notes app to easily see can significantly help. It will help you with being grounded, so you can’t be easily swayed by the pressure that comes with life in itself. To help you calm your senses and be one with your internal self, you can light a smudge candle up.
Lighting a candle up doesn’t guarantee immediate change. However, it can help you to have more prompts in writing. It gives you clarity and promotes positivity, which means it can significantly impact the way you feel and approach the things you look back to. So, you can write the little things that happened on a lighter and much more positive note.
Takeaway
Life is indeed busy. But it doesn’t stop us from taking care of ourselves and appreciating the things surrounding us. All that being said, we highly recommend you pause sometimes.
Pausing doesn’t mean you are giving up and wasting time over trivial, irrelevant matters. On the contrary, pausing allows you to clear your mind, often boosting your productivity. So take time off your day and choose to be happy. Find the significance in the little things, and thank yourself for all that has been and will be.