The Power of Gratitude

KIMZO

Feb 13, 2023 • 5 min read

Hello friends,

I am honestly surprised about how much fun I'm having to write a weekly blog like this. Just sharing my thoughts with you guys and talking about what I've learned is an amazing way to "force" myself to learn, as well as an amazing way to just produce something that people can benefit from.

I'm really grateful for that.

And honestly, everything on our planet is just a huge fucking ride. We are here to live, have literally no clue where this ride (called "life") will take us, and we can take decision in it. We can form everything in our lives how we want it to be. We can live how we want to live. The power is with us.

Isn't that sick? For me, that thought excites me so much.

We are literally on a space rock that is flying through something that we don't know anything about, and some other space rocks are flying around there as well. We are not even a dot on this space rock. And this space rock (being Earth) isn't even a dot in this huge something that we call the universe.

And here we are, living our lives. Trying our best. It's incredible that we exist. It's honestly a fascination. And we can do with this gift what we want. Why are we here? What is our purpose?

At the end of the day, we all get to decide that ourselves. And I think that exactly this is something that we should be grateful for. To be here. To experience life.

This is a call for gratitude. Let's be grateful together.

What to be grateful about

This is the part of this blog, that I thought I shouldn't write at first. But after thinking about it again while eating a nut cake, I realized that for some people, this might be life changing. For me, it is absolutely natural to be grateful. But because it feels so natural to me nowadays, I forgot that not everybody feels like that.

Maybe you catch yourself asking: "Why should I be grateful? For what should I be grateful?"

There are a lot of benefits for being grateful and practicing gratitude. Here are a few of them.

Improving your mental health

Practicing Gratitude is an amazing way to improve your mental health situation. By writing about what you are grateful for, you shift your focus to the good things in life. Maybe you ate something amazing, maybe you are just happy for the weather, or you feel grateful for being able to read this blog. You find the small things in life and focus on them, even when your life situation may not be the best at the moment.

Writing those things down, however big or small, is amazing. You remember them, you feel the emotion behind it, you feel grateful, and it makes you feel better. And over time, when you make this a habit, your overall mood will change.

Your brain will be trained to focus on gratitude, therefor you will be more grateful and more fulfilled. You will get into a cycle that is empowering.

From all the things that I practice, I think gratitude is the one that helps me with my well-being in the most direct way.

Improving your quality of life

While this technically counts into mental health as well, I want to put it out as a separate point. By being more grateful, you feel less stressed and more happy, as well as motivated. With all of that, you will feel the motivation to go to the gym or to invest more time into your purpose.

I'm pointing it out that much because it's literally a game changer. If you are grateful, you will feel better. Therefore, you are more motivated and likely to do what you really want and because of that, your life will improve. And of course, you will be grateful for improving your life and taking action. This is the empowering cycle I mentioned before. Free Motivation.

Improving your relationships

If someone expresses gratitude towards someone in any way, this person just had a positive interaction with someone else. This is a good thing. And if you express gratitude towards a person, this person will be more happy to be with you anyway and help you out in different situations. Gratitude is always a win/win.

If someone is grateful to you, you feel good as well.

Gratitude is one of the keys for a long-lasting relationship.

How to be grateful

Firstly: To benefit from everything that the practice of gratitude has to offer, you need to be patient. The ability to really feel into gratitude builds over time.

Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. - Alan Cohen

There are a few ways to practice gratitude. The basics are: It doesn't matter what of those things you try, you will be experiencing gratitude. It doesn't necessarily have to involve other people. Start small, but consistent. And with consistent, I mean daily.

Write a gratitude journal: Just start writing: "I'm grateful for..." and look what comes up. Make it a habit to write in it every time before and/or after sleeping.
Give someone a compliment (level 1) or express to someone how grateful you are for knowing them (level 2)
Write a gratitude letter to someone (you don't have to send it if you don't feel like it, but you have to write it)
Learn to fully accept yourself. Thank yourself for who you are. You fucking got this.
Say "Thank you" more often and realize, that you can be grateful for the smallest of things.

My challenge for you

This week, I want you to start practicing gratitude (big surprise, I know).

I want you to build up a routine. Before going to bed, I want you to think about three things that you are grateful for. Think about those three things, however big or small they are, and feel the sensations. In your body, in your chest, in your heart.

For bonus points, you can also write them in a journal. Like that, you can see your progress.

My Song of the week

Amazing song that you should be listening to.