Have you ever gone through a phase where you’re struck with an overwhelming sense of
lack of motivation and you’re just not feeling like you can tackle the
world, much less day-to-day living? The bad news is: we’ve all been
there, and the good news is:
it’s absolutely fixable. At the root of these uninspired feelings are all of our negative emotions
fighting their way to the top and trying to suffocate our positive inner
voice. These emotions eat away at our decision-making, productivity, and
overall drive to succeed, leaving us dissatisfied with life, which only
refuels the negative fire. So although we all might have dipped our toes
into this negativity pond at some point in our lives, the important thing
is to not
stay there. We as humans have the ability to break out of a negative feedback
cycle and actually rewire our brains to think and live positively.
The biggest part of your personality, both in how you feel and how others
perceive you, is your overall disposition. This “mindset”
is the driving force for either success or failure, so you can imagine
how important is it to have it fine-tuned. Your thoughts influence your
words, your words influence your actions, and your actions paint the best
picture of who you are as a person, and what you believe you are capable
of. In other words, YOU and only you are responsible for creating a positive
life for yourself.
Learning how to ignore the negative and instead channel an attitude of
gratitude can change your entire outlook on life and set you up for huge
success in whatever you choose – business, sports, family, or simply
just being a genuinely happy person. So, here is the million-dollar question
– HOW do we accomplish this? How do we achieve more happiness, better
health, and increased productivity? At the core, it’s about
building a habit that becomes more automatic and longer-lasting with time; a habit of expressing
thankfulness and gratitude for everything in life, no matter how miniscule
or seemingly non-important.
This change won’t happen overnight like a light switch turning on
and off. Our brains have to be trained, much like an athlete has to train
repetitively to perform at their highest level. When we choose to speak
or act with gratitude, a new path gets traced in our brain, and behaving
this way may at first feel unnatural as the path is brand new and not
well recognized. However, once we take this decide to travel this path
and repeat it hundreds and hundreds of times it becomes engraved as an
easy to recognize pattern. An attitude of gratitude transforms from something
we have to think about, to something that occurs subconsciously, and that
is the ultimate goal.
People described as “thankful” tend to eat healthier, have
an abundance of energy, cope with stress better, have increased self-esteem,
and create deeper friendships – all of which are pillars to lasting success.
Gratitude makes us nicer, more trusting and trusted, more social, and
as a result helps us deepen our existing relationships and create new
ones. People who spend their time and energy expressing what they are
grateful for, have no energy left for complaining, as they are able to
recognize it gets them nowhere. This makes your workplace – which
may be an office, the athletic field, or a classroom – a much more
friendly and enjoyable place to be, while helping you achieve your goals.
You know how nice it feels when someone else takes a few moments to show
kindness? Be that person for someone else. With an optimistic outlook
and a thankful disposition, there is no doubt that you will get there;
it is only a matter of time.