How to Stay #Grateful Even When You’re Not

How to Stay #Grateful Even When You’re Not

Ever since I started practicing gratitude, I began to notice a pattern. I was concentrating on all of the things that I had and felt good about in my life that I wanted to attract more of. I would say thank you for the family and friends in my life, that I had a roof over my head and food on the table. I would even get as granular as to say thank you for a hot shower in the morning. Nothing was too small to say thank you for in my opinion, and so I journaled on.

However a few weeks ago, I realized that I was not in the best place mentally. Nothing felt like it was going right, I wasn’t feeling my best and it was manifesting in other areas of my life. I was displeased. But still part of me wanted to stay grateful and see the positives in the situation. After all as my teacher Gabby Bernstein likes to say, “Obstacles are detours in the right direction.” A method which I have firmly come to believe. 

I sat with my journal one morning thinking about all of the things that were bothering me or not going “right” in my life and I began to write. “Thank you for the fact that I have to go to work today. Thank you that I didn’t get that second part time job that I really, really wanted. Thank you.” And something happened, something shifted.

Instead of calling out the events or things that I perceived as negative, I was able to turn them into positives. I was able to step back and see the negative feeling and turn it on its head to see the good that it brought, the joy that came out of what would otherwise be called pain.

Gratitudes are very powerful. It’s easy to say thank you for all of the things that we already perceive as positive forces in our lives. It’s easy to be grateful for the things that we want. But at a time when I didn’t feel like I had much good coming my way, I still needed to find something to be grateful for, and this felt like my only way out. 

So the next time something doesn’t work out for you, or you miss that opportunity or you end up somewhere you never expected to be, don’t fight it. Remember that you are exactly where you are supposed to be at the exact moment you are supposed to be there. And whatever you perceive in your life right now as negative or challenging or not what you would normally say thank you for, flip it on its head and choose to be grateful, even when you’re not.