How to Live a Gratitude Driven Life

A life of gratitude is filled with happiness, contentment and peace. Unfortunately, it is in our nature as human beings to focus on the things we don’t have. This makes us unhappy, worried and discontent. Discontentment is the major driving force of over ambition, selfishness, and stress. And as we know there is a steady rise in the prevalence of stress related health challenges and diseases.

A man once said, “gratitude is a vaccine, an anti toxin and an antiseptic.”

How true these words are!

Gratitude helps to detoxify discontentment, stress, worry and anxiety from our lives. Gratitude removes clutter and helps us live simple, less complicated lives. The more simple our lives are, the more happy, free and purpose driven we become.

Another usefulness of gratitude is that it makes us less targets for companies who convince us that more is better. In a world filled with consumers, companies try to convince us that buying more shoes, clothes, phones and cars and other material goods will make us happy.

The more grateful we become, the more aware we become of the things we have. We see that these things are enough and that less is actually more.

So how do you live this satisfying life of gratitude? Is such a life possible? Of course it is. But you have to be intentional about it.

Which is why we came up with these six simple steps to living a gratitude driven life. Follow these steps consistently and you are on the right path to peace and satisfaction.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

We are quick to forget all the good things that happen to us. Keeping a gratitude journal is a good way to count your blessings. A gratitude journal is an intentional decision to focus on the positives and ignore the negatives. There is something fixed and intentional about writing things on paper. The more you write down the occurrences you are grateful for in your life, the more conscious you become of positivity, the more grateful you become.

You can start by journaling things to be grateful for in a day. You can do so before going to bed at night. Start an entry with, “I’m grateful for,” then begin to list the things you are grateful for.

Have Quiet Times

Quiet moments builds consciousness and mindfulness. When you take time to focus on the good things happening around you, you become more aware of them. You can have quiet times first thing in the morning. Go to a quiet place and think of your day and all the things you anticipate for the day. Express your gratitude for these things. You can also have quiet times during nature trips as you appreciate the beauty of nature.

Give Compliments

When was the last time you gave someone a compliment? The more you give compliments, the more aware you become of the beautiful things around you. Sincere compliments are not to be mistaken for insincere flattery. Sincere compliments trains your mind to notice the happenings in other people lives. This in turn helps you to be grateful for the happenings in the lives of others.

Give Thanks for your Food

Do you give thanks for your meal or do you go straight to eating? Giving thanks for your meal makes you realize how lucky you are to have basic necessities such as food. Not many people are lucky enough to eat healthy balanced meals. Giving thanks means you are grateful to be part of those lucky ones.

Appreciate Kind Gestures

How often do you say thank you? When someone opens the door for you do you say thank you? When someone offers to help with your bags for you say thank you? Appreciating the kind gestures of others is a great way to live a gratitude driven life. It shows that you are aware of others in your environment and you appreciate them.

Live a gratitude driven life today by appreciating people for their kind gestures. Say thank you today!

Celebrate the Victories of Others

Do you congratulate people for their achievements or do you envy them? The simple word, congratulations does a lot in making you conscious of possibilities, success and victories. It also shows that you appreciate success wherever and whenever you see it.

There are indeed so many things to be grateful for. You will never know until you begin to intentionally capture those moments. A gratitude journal and quiet reflective times help rewire your thoughts on positivity and victories. The more aware you become of your victories and achievements, the more real they become for you and the more you begin to experience them.

Do you want to live a satisfied and fulfilled life? Then live a life of gratitude. Start appreciating your achievements and the achievements of others today.