The practice of gratitude can seem an extremely difficult task, specifically at points in life where things don’t go the way we expected them to, when our earnest efforts don’t bear fruit, when you can’t find a way out of ordeals and miseries, and in the simplest words, when you fail to obtain perfection in a particular endeavor. While it is utterly agreeable that remaining grateful and shifting your focus from negativities to the positive aspects of problematic situations isn’t easy, succeeding in doing so remarkably benefits your productivity, prosperity, spirituality, and most importantly, the cultivation of gratitude keeps your inner solace alive.

Gratitude is ceasing thoughts of imperfection or hopelessness from prevailing over your mind, and ultimately dwelling more on what you can actually do and what you currently have. Most individuals find themselves in constant discontentment and dissatisfaction mainly because they tie their inner happiness with perfection. Although striving to be number one, or toiling for the best is no disgrace, but complaining and whining in case hardships befall you doesn’t actually alleviate those hardships, rather it only ruins your psychological heath, since you’re bringing yourself stress and anxiety by only thinking about what’s absent, instead of considering what you possess right now and what opportunities you can make use of.

The cultivation of gratitude causes a person to live more peacefully and joyfully, and there is a simple yet effective remedy that draws you closer to positivity and gratitude. Take a piece of paper and draw two columns. In the first column, jot down the hardships you’re coping with, while in the second, make a list of the blessings you have, write as many as you can think of. Like you could be grateful for being physically perfect and for not being deprived of the ability to see, hear, speak, and walk. If you’re undergoing certain health issues, you could think of the more intense and severe illnesses others in the world are living through; you will, in turn, yourself realize you’re much more fortunate that many other people. Then you could write you’re grateful for having a roof under your head, for having money adequate enough to suffice your basic requirements, for getting food that’s substantially better than what the downtrodden communities get to eat, having supportive parents, siblings, friends, children or an affectionate spouse, and so on. You will find that the problems and negativities in your life are countable, but as you begin writing down the blessings you possess, the list continues endlessly.
Now, spare a few minutes reflecting on how miserable and cheerless life would’ve been if you were never endowed with these boons. Similarly, think of the harsher situations others around you are suffering from, and compare yours with theirs. This ten-to-fifteen-minute remedial practice, if followed very often, can make you greatly heedful of the numerous positive aspects of your life, make you more focused towards the present situation, ingrain patience and tolerance within you, and in the simplest terms, keep your psychological health from getting upset. The science behind the psychological advantages of gratitude is that keeping your thoughts fixed towards the good things you own in life releases a chemical called “Dopamine” in your brain which in turn, betters your mental energy. Alternatively, you can keep a “Gratitude Journal” in which you’ll write every day about the things that made you feel happy. They don’t necessarily have to be immensely exceptional. A cause of happiness can be anything; the smile of a cherished one, the warmth of your mother’s embrace, the cute drawing your child drew for you today, the serene and placid weather, and so on.

Apart from psychological benefits, gratitude can also help you deal with problems more productively and efficiently since you would actually be “taking action” or “doing something” instead of over-thinking. You become more thoughtful about the process rather than the result. Hence it keeps you more focused and immersed in your endeavors, suppressing the fear of failure. Grateful people tend to concentrate more on the tasks they’re currently carrying out instead of pushing themselves too hard or investing their valuable energy in relentlessly fearing about under-achieving. Since positivity is their foremost principle in all spheres life, they don’t complain even in circumstances when sincere efforts go unrewarded.  Rather than resorting to self-criticism in failures, they see failures as lessons to remember the next time they struggle in their goals. Gratitude can also significantly impact your outlook towards life since you begin to live solely for the purpose of bringing pleasure to yourself rather than to be impressive and remarkable in the sight of other people. Ungrateful people constantly compare themselves with the ones ahead of them instead of rejoicing in their own accomplishments, and strongly desire to stand first in every competition and succeed in making everyone know about their brilliance. They loathe themselves when they make mistakes and are never showing inclination to accept their flaws. Grateful people, on the other hand, resolutely believe that the paramount purpose of their life isn’t to be perfect but to make the most out of what they possess, to improve and learn, and most importantly, to live only for themselves. Gratitude also helps to forge successful and strong relationships since grateful people always love unconditionally and consider one’s sincerity as the foremost factor in building a long-lasting bond rather than linking happiness with financial status. It can therefore be said that gratitude eradicates materialism, self-centeredness, perfectionism, jealousy, and improves self-esteem, productivity, spiritualism and longevity.

It wouldn’t be incorrect to state that the stupendous benefits linked with gratitude are unrevealed to most individuals of today. Gratitude, if practiced regularly, can help you do the utmost even in the most miserable and desperate states of life. I’d like to quote a very inspirational and insightful saying that effectively summarizes the whole article, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”