Gratitude as a Tool to Shift from Pessimism

Gratitude is one of the most potent energies for gradually shifting the lens that you view your life through. As someone who struggled for many years with severe depression and anxiety, simple practices of gratitude have been instrumental in shifting my baseline lens from pessimism and victimization to trust and empowerment.

Gratitude practices are ineffective unless gratitude is felt in a genuine way and on a somatic level, and for those of us who have experienced alot of trauma, this can literally be impossible in the beginning. I found for myself, that process gradually came through starting very small.

I realized at some point that now matter how painful my body, emotional state, or life circumstances were, I could indeed find just one small thing to be grateful for, even if it took an hour to actually tangibly feel it. Simple things like having a comfortable bed to rest and sleep on, for the love emanating from my cat cuddling with me, having a hot soothing shower, etc.

As I began to cultivate gratitude for one small thing at a time, eventually it would lead to another small thing, and over time has built into a practice of taking 30 minutes at a time allowing my focus to shift to various things about the present moment that I feel grateful for.

I began writing a list of these things in times of feeling it authentically and when I feel anxious or notice I am seeing through a strong pessimistic lens, I read this list.

I was challenged in this a few months ago in being in the position of having no rent money. I could view this through a lens of "I have no money to survive, I hate the client that cancelled at the last moment and put me in this situation, I have no work lined up", or "in this moment, I am not being kicked out of my house, I have plenty of time and space to create exactly the forms of work and avenues of abundance that are most aligned, and I am grateful for this freedom".

Cultivating gratitude has also helped me to understand the lessons in the darkest times of my life, that I would otherwise be closed off to perceiving. I do not see this as by-passing, although I admit I have seen this concept presented in a by-passing way. It is absolutely necessary to simultaneously acknowledge and sit with the difficult emotions you experience, and to use this kind of practice not to avoid feeling but to help stop the cycles of becoming lost in them and actively retrain the way your mind has been conditioned through your life experiences. I actually have found this practice most useful immediately after a period of cathartic expression and release of anger, grief, etc

Share what you are grateful for in this moment in the comments of this blog if you feel!