What role does Gratitude play in our overall well being? How can I practice Gratitude?
In my previous post of Morning Ritual (link here), I had mentioned about my Morning Routine and how it has brought a positive difference to my life. Continuing that topic further, I thought of discussing the first activity that I do when I wake up and that is Practicing Gratitude.
Before jumping on to this topic, I must mention that my method of Gratitude might be different from what could suite you. I hope to inspire people to adopt some sort of Gratitude practice and do it consistently in their lives.
Practicing Gratitude has been one of the best habits that I inculcated which has helped me tremendously in dealing with emotions, getting a control over my stress & improving my health. I believe this practice alone can change your mindset for the better.
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, a readiness to show appreciation for and return kindness. Gratitude is the genuine feeling that you get when you are thankful to somebody for whatever contribution they had done in your life.
While we have been taught to be thankful quite early in life, we loose this habit as we grow up. Seldom were we taught how crucial this practice of Gratitude would become to manage mental wellness.
I believe practicing Gratitude positively affects my mental wellness. What Gratitude really does is makes us remember the positives that have happened, it removes our misconception as the doer of all things but only an enabler and thank the real person / power that is behind all good things in my life.
Gratitude & me
To be honest, I was not practicing Gratitude until last year. I knew the practice of Gratitude and how high performance entrepreneurs regularly use this practice. But it never excited me.
Although, I believe myself to be a very spiritual person, I never felt the need to thank almighty (Krishna) or my Guru or my teacher / family. Last year was also the time when I was peaking in stress. I know this because I experienced it from close quarters. My mind would go fuzzy, get frequent backaches, headaches and what not.
At that time, I realized that now is the time to start feeling grateful of what I have in my life, who all contributed to my growth and individuals who were important to me.
I started to count my blessings each day and remember how God (Krishna) has been kind to me in countless situations. I also became grateful to my parents, my teachers, my family, company, colleagues & society in general.
I do not know how much Gratitude has helped me but the frequent backaches and headaches have stopped. I could now sense a general feeling of well-being whereas the stress levels have gone down.
How I practice Gratitude
I will share with you how I practice Gratitude. I practice Gratitude in 2 parts i.e. First happens immediately after I get up and the Second one happens after I complete my workout. It usually happens first thing in the morning and it is a Gratitude practice which is brief.
I start it with offering my Gratitude to God. I move to my Morning rituals which is Chanting & Yoga. After my Yoga, I do Meditation which is a my way of connecting with myself. After Meditation comes Gratitude session of 10 min where I deeply appreciate all the positives that happened till today.
I offer my heartfelt gratitude to HDG AC Bhakti Vedanta Swami Prabhupada followed by offering my gratitude to my Guru HH Loknath Swami Maharaj. I thank my Shiksha Gurus and individuals who were instrumental in helping me to practice Krishna Consciousness which has become a central part of my life.
I thank all the teachers that I had till now started from my school then college till my mentor Shri Shyam Taneja ji of Unnati.
I offer my Gratitude to my parents, my family and friends. I also offer my gratitude to my organization who have helped me grow as a professional along with my colleagues. I also thank Customers and my Vendors.
My Gratitude
I am deeply grateful to the viewers of Sarathi. I do not have enough words to thank the viewers who are taking the time out of their busy schedule to read the content out of the many powerful content available. I truly am blessed to have an audience like you.
I truly believe that whatever I do and whatever I write on Sarathi is because of me, but it is due to the number of teachers who have taught me how to learn, read, write. I credit the knowledge that I share with you to the many Coaches from whom I had the privilege to learn about business and life.
I can proudly say that although my content is original and I do not use any AI to create content, I get inspired from the many articles that I read, youtube videos that I watch and many books that I read.
I do hope that you would be inspired by this article to thank the many individuals who have knowingly or unknowingly contributed to your growth. I think the time is right to acknowledge their contribution to whatever you are today. Start by writing, “I offer my gratitude to…” and see the magic unfold.
Thank You,
“Be Grateful, Be Humble”
~RG~