With the pandemic hitting the world, the number of stressed, depressed, and anxious people increased dramatically. Not to forget, there is a massive surge in post-pandemic anxiety. While happiness seems a common word, when we think hard and question ourselves, we feel lost. More than ever before, we have to stand by our friends and family and practice smiling and be grateful to everyone who has been there for us. You might get this book ‘Attitude of Gratitude’ to train your brain with the act of gratitude.

Feeling and expressing gratitude can make you joyous at the moment. If you think back to the happiness you felt the last time your partner cooked dinner, or a friend helped you out—and a growing pile of evidence shows that giving and receiving thanks can also have a profound impact on your mood. A study from the Pennsylvania University found that people who wrote and delivered a heartfelt ‘thank you’ letter felt happier than others who didn’t. 

The Effects of Gratitude

Practicing gratitude might change your brain’s chemical reaction to things. In positive psychological researches, gratitude is consistently and strongly associated with more cheerfulness. Gratitude lets people feel more affirmative emotions, improve their health, relish good experiences, deal with adversity, and build trustable relationships. Different people think and express gratitude in different ways.

As per researchers, therapists, and even Buddhist monks, happiness or calmness is an acquired feeling. , it can be practiced to be happy, to feel comfortable in one’s skin. 

With the advent of technology and the alienation of human real human connections, we need to practice gratitude more than ever. 

How to practice gratitude

Gratitude is a path for people to appreciate what they have instead of always looking out for something new every day, hoping it will make them happier, or thinking they can’t feel pleased until every material and physical need is fulfilled. Gratitude helps people focus on what they get instead of what they don’t have. And, although it may feel contrived at first, this mental state grows stronger with use and practice.

Thank-you notes: You can write a thank you note for everybody who makes your life easier and bearable. Suppose you write a gratitude note for your mailman for delivering your precious letters all around the year. The smile on his face will cheer your heart and fill it with joy. 

Journal: You can buy a journal and keep it for writing things that you are grateful for. Every day, when you are going to sleep or wake up, write down three things that you are thankful for. Notice how you feel grounded and loved. 

Pray: people who are religious can pray to their gods. It makes you calm from within and keeps you happy for the rest of the day. 

Meditation: Meditation works with your brain cells. It helps secrete dopamine and helps in reducing stress. Also, it makes you joyous if practiced regularly. You will feel light-hearted and happy.   

Famous Gratitude Quotes

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”  — Oprah Winfrey.

“Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”  — Charles Dickens.

“You cannot do a kindness too soon because you never know how soon it will be too late.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” – Gilbert C. Chesterton.

“Gratitude will shift you to a higher frequency, and you will attract much better things.” – Rhonda Byrne.

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

“Reflect upon your present blessings—of which every man has many—not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles Dickens

“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others belong to us as well.” Voltaire

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity: It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.” William Faulkner

Conclusion

Gratitude is a practice and training yourself towards being happy and humble to the people and things in your life. Scientifically and spiritually, it will help you get better and make you feel comfortable in your skin. Practice being grateful for everything that you get out of your life and feel the difference.