{"id":6803,"date":"2024-10-22T11:09:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-22T09:09:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/expressing-gratitude\/"},"modified":"2024-10-22T11:09:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-22T09:09:59","slug":"expressing-gratitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/expressing-gratitude\/","title":{"rendered":"Expressing Gratitude."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thank You, Thanks, Cheers, Dank u, Danke sch\u00f6n, Merci, Grazie, Gracias, Efcharisto, Tak, Arigato, \u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

We say it easily, and all the time. \u00a0And that\u2019s a good thing!<\/p>\n

But do we actually think<\/span> about the deeper meaning<\/span> of what we\u2019re saying?<\/p>\n

Do we feel <\/em>gratitude while saying it? <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not happy people who are grateful,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s grateful people who are happy.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

If we start saying \u2018Thank you\u2019 more consciously, our whole world will start feeling different. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

When we say thank you for getting a coffee for instance, and we picture someone making the coffee, putting a little milk jar on the side, a cookie on a plate, and then that person bringing it over to us, that \u2018thank you\u2019 will have a whole different meaning. We won\u2019t take it for granted anymore, we will realize someone took an effort to serve us, and we\u2019ll be able to put more, and heartfelt, gratitude into our words. Now, we will really mean it and feel it, when we say \u2018thank you\u2019.<\/p>\n

Another example is, when a friend is listening to your story, and you take into account the time they took to come over, the time to be there for you, and the effort to actually listen to you, again, you will feel a lot more gratitude while saying \u2018thank you for being here\u2019.<\/p>\n

The more we make the effort to look, and see, what is happening around us, the more we will find things to be grateful for, lots of things.<\/strong> <\/span>From very small gestures, to very big things that may even change your whole world.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a matter of looking<\/span> for the good in people, in situations.<\/p>\n

Being able to change your whole world, just by looking at it from a perspective of gratitude, is one of the many things our wonderful teacher dr. Wayne W. Dyer<\/span> taught us. One of his very famous sayings is:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you change, <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

the way you look at things,<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

the things you look at, <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

change.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

And that is so true!<\/p>\n

Choose to look at your world from a different point of view.<\/span><\/p>\n

Choose to look at it from this beautiful angle of gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

We take so much for granted, we are so quick to criticize, we\u2019re always looking for something more, something \u2018better\u2019, \u2026<\/p>\n

But when we choose to start feeding this thought* of gratitude, this thought of believing we have so much to be grateful for, we will start developing this feeling of gratitude, and it will become a habit to look at things from a place of feeling grateful.<\/span><\/p>\n

And \u2018suddenly\u2019 we\u2019ll feel luckier, happier, richer, more loved, \u2026 we will be content.<\/p>\n

The 14th<\/sup> Dalai Lama<\/span>** says this beautifully:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you are discontent, <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

you always want more, more, more. <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Your desire can never be satisfied. <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

But when you practice contentment, <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

you can say to yourself, <\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOh yes, I already have everything I really need.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

To stop always wanting more, to stop thinking we\u2019re entitled to it all, will lead us to feeling contentment, and to feeling \u2018having enough\u2019.<\/p>\n

That feeling will lead us to being satisfied with our lives.<\/p>\n

And being satisfied leads us to being happy and content.<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t that what we, ultimately, all want? Living a happy life?<\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s very rewarding and heartwarming, to look at what you have, and feel grateful and content about it.<\/p>\n

The alternative is: never feeling satisfied with what you have, and constantly be looking for things that, hopefully, will bring you happiness. But that is the wrong approach, as you\u2019ll never have enough when you are not looking from a place of gratitude.<\/p>\n

Bren<\/strong>\u00e9<\/strong> Brown<\/strong>*** found overwhelming evidence, that gratitude is good for us on every level<\/span>: physical, emotional and mental. She found results of different studies, that gratitude is correlated with better sleep, increased creativity, increased decision-making skills decreased entitlement, decreased hostility and aggression, decreased blood pressure, <\/span><\/strong>\u2026<\/strong><\/span>.<\/span> <\/strong><\/p>\n

When I was reading in The Atlas of the Heart*** the quote from Professor of Psychology of California, Davis<\/strong> and editor in chief of \u2018The Journal of Positive Psychology\u2019 Emmons<\/strong>, all the pieces of the puzzle clicked. Our emotional system likes newness, but the positive emotion of having something new, wears off quickly, we adapt to this new life easily. So, we always want something new.<\/p>\n

But with gratitude<\/strong>,<\/span> we appreciate the value of what we have, we are more conscious<\/strong><\/span> about it, we are less likely to take it for granted. The feeling of contentment lasts. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/em>\u2026<\/em> Instead of adapting to goodness, <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

we celebrate goodness<\/em>\u2026<\/em>. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With gratitude <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

we become greater participants in our lives, <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

as opposed to spectators.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

As I have written in many of my articles, you can consciously steer your thoughts*, and the quality of your thoughts determines the quality of your feelings.<\/p>\n

When you practice gratitude daily, it will become your way of looking at the world. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It will become your habit to start feeling happy and content in life.<\/p>\n

It will become your habit to be living a healthy and fulfilled life.<\/p>\n

Create a gratitude practice that works for you, and do it daily<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

That way it will become a habit, a new connection in your brain, it will become your new modus operandi.<\/p>\n

Start your day with saying \u2018Thank you!\u2019<\/span> Even the very fact of waking up, of having a roof over your head, of having food on the table, may seem normal to you. But it isn\u2019t for everyone. So, it\u2019s already something to be grateful for.<\/p>\n

Write down**** in the evening what was good today,<\/span> write down what put a smile on your lips, what warmed your heart today. The fact of going back to that positive moment, writing it down, pondering it for a moment, reliving this warm feeling, makes you feel grateful, content, happy, loved.<\/p>\n

Practice gratitude while meditating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be very conscious about thanking people, feel<\/em> grateful when you thank them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Look around you and notice nice gestures, nice people, \u2026 say thank you for having them in your life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The more you look for positive things, the more you will find them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Doing this daily, will make sure it becomes your new way of being, your new way of seeing the world. You will become your new you, your Highest Self.<\/p>\n

Dr. Wayne Dyer\u2019s says in his book \u2018Happiness is the way*****\u2019:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re looking for love, it will always elude you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re looking for happiness, it will always elude you.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

When you become those things, however, they\u2019re just there.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have them, they have you.\u201d<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve been practicing gratitude for a while, you will fully understand.<\/p>\n

Thank you all for reading me and for supporting me on Medium! If you want unlimited access to all of my articles and many other authors, you can become a Medium Member and you\u2019ll be supporting me and all the other authors. Many, many thanks to you all!!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Katrien<\/p>\n

*\u201dWhich Thoughts Are You Feeding?\u201d by Katrien Degraeve.<\/p>\n

**Quote from the 14th<\/sup> Dalai Lama in Atlas of the Heart by Bren\u00e9 Brown.<\/p>\n

***\u201dAtlas of the Heart\u201d by Bren\u00e9 Brown.<\/p>\n

****\u201dSleep: \u2018Pure Bliss\u2019 or \u2018Waste of Time\u2019? by Katrien Degraeve.<\/p>\n

*****\u201dHappiness Is The Way\u201d by dr. W. Wayne Dyer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thank You, Thanks, Cheers, Dank u, Danke sch\u00f6n, Merci, Grazie, Gracias, Efcharisto, Tak, Arigato, \u2026 We say it easily, and all the time. \u00a0And that\u2019s a good thing! But do we actually think about the deeper meaning of what we\u2019re saying? Do we feel gratitude while saying it? \u201cIt\u2019s not happy people who are grateful, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-classifiee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}