Are you taking things for granted?
When our lives are hectic and chaotic and everything seems to be going the wrong way, we tend to focus only on the bad, stressful, and difficult. We bury our heads so deep into what is negative and problematic that we fail to take note of everything around us that is good. For example, when we complain about our stressful jobs, we seldom pause to express gratitude for having a job and source of income in the first place. We do not take even a few seconds to think: “Yes, this is demanding and difficult but I am nonetheless grateful for having a job that allows me to pay the bills, feed my kids and put a roof over their heads.”
This is applicable for numerous things apart from your job as many take almost everything and everyone in their lives for granted.
Failure to express gratitude for what you have can rob you of precious joy as it makes you selfish, fuels insecurity, and distracts you from living in the moment.
1. Lacking gratitude makes you selfish
When you can only focus on your problems and what is going wrong in your life, you fail to pay attention to those around you. This means that you are not only failing to show your appreciation for them but that you are also probably failing to notice that they too have their own struggles and problems.
Expressing gratitude for those around you – even when you are facing difficult times – acts as a reminder of what is truly important. This increases your happiness as you are aware of the love and people which you have in your life. What is more, by taking the time to notice and appreciate those around you, you are more likely to find out if they too are struggling. Helping those you love makes their life easier and in turn, makes them happier. Naturally, when those you love are happy – you too become happier.
2. Lacking gratitude fuels insecurity
Everyone has a set of strengths and weaknesses. Reminding yourself of only what is negative and lacking gratitude for all of your positive attributes can quickly take away your happiness. Focusing on your flaws and disregarding your strengthens can fuel insecurity and make you feel dissatisfied and disappointed with your life.
Instead, make a list of positive affirmations and show gratitude for all of your strengths. Understand that as a result of all of your hard work and perseverance, you find yourself where you are today. Nobody is perfect – and you should not expect yourself to be. Accept yourself for everything that you are, become secure in knowing you are enough, and learn to love yourself. In doing so, you will find happiness.
3. Lacking gratitude distracts you from living in the moment.
Do you take tomorrow for granted? Probably — most of us do.
Yet, there is no guarantee that we will see tomorrow. No matter who you are, what you do, and where you come from, tomorrow is not a given. So why would you live life as though you are promised another sunrise or another sunset? Why live your life as though today is not the last day that you will see those you love and tell them that you do so?
It may be terrifying, but it is only so because it is true.
You never know when you will next have the chance to hold those you argue with today, smell the roses which you never even look at, and eat the food you always quickly gobble down. Love the people in your life while you still have them and love the body that you live in while you are still alive.
Tomorrow is not promised. You only have the moment in which you are alive and breathing.
