So I know we started with part 1 of the money plan last week and don’t worry, we’ll get to part 2 here soon. I’m still working on some things that I wanted to include in the part 2 so in the meantime we have another critically important topic to talk about, a topic that is rarely talked about in men’s self-improvement circles, but a topic that is no only essential to happiness, it’s impossible to be happy without this thing.
What am I talking about?
I’m talking about gratitude. But first off what exactly is gratitude. Gratitude is defined as ‘he quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.’ at least according to the dictionary.
And that’s actually not a bad starter definition. Gratitude is being thankful for things. It means acknowledging the goods things that are in one’s life and that will come in one’s life. It’s not about Pollyanna foolishness, it’s not about not being realistic, or anything like that.
It’s simply about acknowledging truth, truth that most of us ignore. The truth about the things that are going good in our lives. And how that changes our brain and by changing our brain can change our lives too.
Let’s see how.
Gratitude & Meditation
Writing in a gratitude journal or simply thanking others or being thanked by others has been shown to release both dopamine and serotonin, the feel good neurotransmitters. We get an instant boost in happiness whenever we’re thankful. But not just that but overtime this starts to wire our brain for positivity and healthfulness.
Similar to mindfulness meditation. Now I don’t think just being grateful or even a gratitude journal should replace meditation in one’s routine but working together they form a potent one two punch and strong symbiotic relationship. They’ll help to stay on track with workouts, self-development, overcoming addictions and so much more.
Gratitude Is Happiness…Period
Chase happiness and you’ll never catch it. Focus on building gratitude instead and happiness will come to you. Gratitude equals happiness, it’s as simple as that. What researchers have found is that those who make a daily practice of gratitude are without exception happier overall. But it goes deeper than that.
Happiness is essentially a side effect of being grateful. Practice gratitude and you will lower stress, improve sleep quality, and even reduce pain from chronic illnesses. Again, gratitude has proven psychological and physiological effects.
Positivity & Success
Something you’ll see mentioned in most tomes about success will cover having a positive attitude and why this is so critical to success. And that is true. Without a positive attitude you’ll never make it to success. You’ll give up before your work starts to pay off. Having a positive attitude is what keeps you through the hard times and gets you past that critical drop off point where so many fail.
Gratitude trains your mind to have this attitude every second of every day. You wire positivity into yourself so that you make the most of every opportunity given to you. You make the most of every chance that you get.
Gratitude Practices
This is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all that gratitude can do for you. There are books and study after study done on the subject. Feel free to look them up if you like. I have not found a definitive book yet but there are many good ones out there.
There are two ways you can implement gratitude into your lives right here and right now.
The first is start consciously thanking people. Find times throughout the day to thank people. It can be for anything but showing gratitude is one of the best ways to build gratitude. Write gratitude notes, letters, emails, say it at work, at home, at the gym. Thank people more often.
Have a set number you want to hit each day. Say ’10 thanks’ and then go and make sure you are saying genuine thanks to at least ten people a day.
The second method will probably be familiar too you. And that is keeping a gratitude journal. Each night write down 3-10 things that you are grateful for. The more specific and concrete that you can make it, the better. Try to write down specific things that happened during the day.
Not just.
- job.
- fam.
- dog.
And be done with it. That doesn’t have nearly the power that writing out specific things that have happened in your day does. But hey even the above is better than doing nothing. You can also break it into categories.
Say one thing you’re grateful for about yourself, one for your job, one for your family, and so on and so forth.
Regardless, just do something. Gratitude is not something that you want to be without and is something that will change your life. You just have to start the process.
If anything I said here interests you I’d highly recommend you check out The Ultimate Alpha Collection which is a compilation of 16 of my books for the price of 5. It covers everything from being a man to making money to getting the right mindset to getting girls to fighting and more and is a resource no man should be without. Pick up your copy today!
-Charles Sledge
