My first answer would actually be: little. But I would like to qualify that answer, because in addition to grumbling during a crisis, we are also more likely to find our gratitude for things. It is a pity that we do not (yet) have it normally in our system and we will only fall back on this basis when things get worse, but it is a start. A beginning of reflection and appreciating what you have.
Sincere gratitude
Sincere gratitude goes further than your mother telling you to say thank you for a gift you have received. After all, we are talking about a courtesy here and even if you don’t like your present, this courtesy is appropriate.
But real and sincere gratitude is about a feeling of being happy with something you have and that can also be the feeling that that person gave a gift, even if it was not a nice gift.
For many, one can only be truly grateful if they have also experienced the opposite, themselves or in their immediate environment. It is typical that we cannot be grateful for this on our own
- a body that functions well
- the children you can enable to study or develop in top sport
- that there is always good food on the table
- the electronics in the car that prevent you from regularly having an empty battery
- birth control
- the fact that we can do and become whatever we want
- the presence of the washing machine
Where weighty aspects alternate with lighter topics. But actually it doesn’t matter, because gratitude is gratitude. And if you are grateful for something, then it is either real or not.
Encourage gratitude
It is not ingrained in people, but you can stimulate it. In fact, it is very simple. Start by saying it when you come across something you are grateful for. Whether this is the feeling of having exercised well and the gratitude that you are able to do this, the enormous dishes that you can put in the dishwasher or your pets that you are able to take good care of and who have a good life with you. to have.
Everyone has their own things for which gratitude can be expressed, because it really feels that way. There is therefore no question about the judgments made by others about the importance of being grateful for something, if judging someone else is realistic at all. Fortunately, in the Western world we have the freedom to express what we agree with and what we do not, but also the why. A gratitude such as I experience and regularly express.
Supplement this by also writing down your grateful moment. You can do this by entrusting to paper every day some of the things that you were bankable for that day. After a few weeks, check how your list is doing.
The switch needs to be turned
To fit this into your life, it is important to switch that switch within yourself and not to take everything for granted. What only matters is that you experience it that way, feel it in your body, as it were. You can encourage this by continuing to say it like a mantra. The mantra ensures that it is absorbed into your system and that you appropriate it. More importantly, it becomes real at some point and it is no longer a sentence that you say frequently. This method is difficult to explain, but practice shows that it works.
An additional aspect of this way of working is that you have to be conscious of it, especially in the beginning. Your observation skills, thinking about how you experience it, counting your blessings that you can easily list, etc. You will really see that you have everything and then enough is really enough. If something happens to happen, then that is nice and you are grateful for that.
More
Some people even claim that if you are truly grateful, more will come your way. With that lake you can do good things for your fellow man. That can also make you grateful. To be allowed to do it, to be able to mean something. Maybe even pass on the gratitude. Just the idea that this could be possible makes me grateful and happy.
Enjoy too!
A misunderstanding of being grateful is humility or submissiveness. When you are grateful you are not humble or submissive. With sincere gratitude you enjoy what you have and that goes well together.
Finally
Sincere gratitude makes you feel good, puts your feet on the floor every now and then and makes you laugh. The latter is the best thing that can happen to you. After all, laughter is good for body and mind.