<p>In this article - we will learn the following</p><ul><li>-The importance of gratitude and being grateful in life</li> <li>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">35 benefits [</b>physical, emotional, mental and social] <b data-redactor-tag="b">of </b>practicing <b data-redactor-tag="b">Gratitude and Feeling Grateful and for our Personal Well-Being</b></li> <li>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">63 Every day Practices to find, create, feel, nourish and nurture Gratitude - to have ever-flowing stream of gratefulness</b> - Start with a new different gratitude-building-activities every day from this list</li> <li>-<b data-redactor-tag="b">16 steps on how to maintain your gratitude journal - please note down and update on everyday basis - it is that essential</b></li></ul><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">How to find gratitude during your toughest times </b></p><p>I am the type of person - <b data-redactor-tag="b">who has to consciously force and consistently put-concentrated-hard-efforts - to find hidden blessings and reasons to feel grateful</b> - <b data-redactor-tag="b">especially when my life is in that phase</b> where one after another setbacks, disappointments, losses, frustrations and crises are happening.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">If you are unable to feel grateful and identify the blessings</b> - when the life has <b data-redactor-tag="b">handed you the lemon</b> [which it will time-to-time] - <b data-redactor-tag="b">we end up not only being miserable ourselves BUT also create pains for our real well-wishers and people closest to us</b> [and who don't deserve this treatment and behaviors]. </p><p>For some people - <b data-redactor-tag="b">generating feelings of gratitude is very difficult</b>.</p><p>On the other hand - <b data-redactor-tag="b">some people are genetically better disposed to feel grateful</b>.</p><p>There are some people - <b data-redactor-tag="b">who do feel that they WERE blessed in the past and then fate dealt them a big-blow - these people are perpetually living in their-that-past AND unable to identify, see, feel and recognize</b> - the blessings that the life is giving them now - few of <b data-redactor-tag="b">these people go on to destroy their current and future happiness and blessings because of this</b>.</p><p>And then there are people <b data-redactor-tag="b">who have had terrible and traumatic past - but now they actually have blessings which can even be recognized by others</b> - still they <b data-redactor-tag="b">feel comfortable reliving their painful past</b> AND as a result thereof - <b data-redactor-tag="b">unable to recognize, appreciate and feel their blessings.</b></p><p>In this article - <b data-redactor-tag="b">I have given few ways I use when I am in one of my numerous rough and tough phases of life</b> - for you to try to find the reasons to be grateful and feel blessed.</p><p>You can use them as well as create your own ways to identify your blessings and feel grateful and to understand that - <b data-redactor-tag="b">why you too have many reasons to rejoice and celebrate your life.</b></p><p>People <b data-redactor-tag="b">who have been through most traumatic, challenging and trying phases of life - have to work-hard on creating and finding reasons to be grateful</b> - as gratitude does not happen automatically - neither it would last for long and indefinitely - if not replenished continuously.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">But work on it we must - all of us</b> - because it is <b data-redactor-tag="b">one of the most essential pillars of sustainable </b>happiness, joy, growth, health, success and relationships.</p><p>For few people <b data-redactor-tag="b">their - personality factors - like narcissism, insecurities, materialism, anti-social and psychological disorders</b> - are the <b data-redactor-tag="b">biggest-barriers to feeling grateful</b>.</p><p>Gratitude is <b data-redactor-tag="b">our emotional operating system software - and fortunately it can be inculcated</b>. </p><p>First <b data-redactor-tag="b">understand the relationship of being grateful with being joyous and being happy</b>.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">It is not that our being happy - makes us feel grateful</b> - BUT- the other way around - <b data-redactor-tag="b">being grateful makes us happy, satisfied and blissful in life</b>.</p><p>During <b data-redactor-tag="b">a difficult and tough phase - having gratitude is most important catalyst to remain hopeful, sane and bouncing-back.</b></p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">It is very easy and natural to feel grateful when life is good - but what happens when disaster strikes</b> - that is when we need to find reasons to feel hopeful.</p><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">35 benefits [</b>physical, emotional, mental and social] <b data-redactor-tag="b">of </b>practicing <b data-redactor-tag="b">Gratitude and Feeling Grateful and for our Personal Well-Being</b></p><ul><li><b data-redactor-tag="b">1.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">11 Physical Benefits of gratitude</b></li> <li>I.Less illnesses </li> <li>II.Lower aches and pains </li> <li>III.Feel overall healthier - mentally, physically and emotionally</li> <li>IV.When we feel good - we also maintain a healthy regimen of exercise, heathy eating and sleeping well</li> <li>V.Have powerful positive disposition and motivations - making us pursue meaningful pursuits</li> <li>VI.Reduces symptoms of depression, anxiety, nervousness</li> <li>VII.Are less angry and more happy</li> <li>VIII.Lowers blood pressure</li> <li>IX.Have restful and refreshing quality sleep</li> <li>X.Physically more active</li> <li>XI.Gratitude strengthen your immune system</li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">2.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">17 Mental and Emotional Benefits</b></li> <li>I.We seldom compare ourselves negatively with others</li> <li>II.Are not bitter, envious or jealous</li> <li>III.Have hope for future - which makes us take actions</li> <li>IV.Have better mental-resilience - enabling us to face and overcome challenges, obstacles and difficulties</li> <li>V.Reduces our frustrations, irritations and outburst</li> <li>VI.We start responding rather than reacting impulsively</li> <li>VII.Feelings of increased happiness for longer periods</li> <li>VIII.Raises our optimism level </li> <li>IX.Practicing gratitude can also make you better equipped to handle the difficulties of life that inevitably arise</li> <li>X.Have Higher self-esteem-Boosts self-confidence</li> <li>XI.Able to take tough decisions</li> <li>XII.Are able to act - in spite of fears and anxieties </li> <li>XIII.You Appreciate others more</li> <li>XIV.You start noticing and giving credit to others for what they have done</li> <li>XV.You recognize the importance of other's contribution and efforts</li> <li>XVI.You start helping others grow - which in turn propels your growth manifold</li> <li>XVII.You support others generously </li> <li><b data-redactor-tag="b">3.</b><b data-redactor-tag="b">7 Social Benefits</b></li> <li>I.Have better quality of and meaningful relationships</li> <li>II.Larger networks - professional as well as social</li> <li>III.Our bliss makes us charming and attractive for people wanting to connect with us</li> <li>IV.Gain respect and admiration from others</li> <li>V.Improved - closer and intimate relationships - romantic, platonic and familial</li> <li>VI.Increase social support</li> <li>VII.Work feels fulfilling</li></ul><p><b data-redactor-tag="b">63 Every day Practices to find, create, feel, nourish and nurture Gratitude - to have ever-flowing stream of gratefulness</b> - Start with a new different gratitude-building-activities every day from the following list - add and create your own</p><ul><li>1.<b data-redactor-tag="b">16 steps of maintaining your gratitude journal - please note down and update on everyday basis - it is that essential</b></li> <li>I.Identify - what are the things you have which are blessing not only for you - but also which many people want to have desperately </li> <li>II.Identifying all those people who have made meaningful, impactful and positive contribution and difference in your life </li> <li>III.Noting down all your struggles, pains, setbacks, failures and griefs - and how you bounced back - to see how mentally and emotionally tough you are</li> <li>IV.Noting down all your accomplishments - those - for you are the moments of triumphs</li> <li>V.Listing all that goals and dreams that you have managed to achieve </li> <li>VI.List - in how many ways your troubles have made you a better and more powerful person</li> <li>VII.List all your strengths and expertise - that makes you special</li> <li>VIII.List all your weaknesses - that have triggered growth</li> <li>IX.List all the lessons that you have learned - from past mistakes and failures</li> <li>X.Identify and cherish the dreams you have - those for which you are taking actions actively to move towards it </li> <li>XI.Create a collage of memories - of people, events and life's happy moments with your most loved ones</li> <li>XII.List all those risks that you took </li> <li>XIII.List all those situations - where you went ahead and took steps - although you were sh*t-scared</li> <li>XIV.Identify at least one positive thing - that has made your life worth-living </li> <li>XV.Think about something or someone you are thankful for right now</li> <li>XVI.If you are going through a bad situation - identify and list at least one thing that you can learn from this</li> <li>2.Do something nice for your - children, parent, spouse, sibling</li> <li>3.Identify one positive quality in your - children, parent, spouse, sibling - and mention about these openly</li> <li>4.Create a surprise-note-book - where you note down ideas as and when they come to AND then give pleasant surprise to your loved ones - on regular basis</li> <li>5.Create exotically planned breaks and vacations - for your loved ones - this need not be anything expensive and you can use your creativity </li> <li>6.Show your gratefulness - to your loved ones OR those who have done you great-favors - in many different ways</li> <li>7.Let your loved ones know regularly that you are grateful for them and for what they do for you</li> <li>8.Spend time-together with your loved ones -having light-snacks and go through memorable moments and happy time together</li> <li>9.Schedule time - just to listen - to your loved ones - without making any judgement or solutions - 1-on-1</li> <li>10. Share your day and encourage others to share their day - together</li> <li>11. Make it a point to have at least one meal together - whenever it is possible - meaning when everyone comes back to home or are at home</li> <li>12. Celebrate every meaningful occasion - together</li> <li>13. Resolve conflicts and misunderstand as soon as you can </li> <li>14. Plan-schedule-do - acts of unconditional giving - without expecting anything back- it would be great if you can involve your loved ones too and do this together having fun</li> <li>15. Have fun together - identify newer and innovative ways to do it</li> <li>16. Thank everyone who have helped you - known, unknown or service-providers</li> <li>17. Give-away your unused things - but of value to people who need it most</li> <li>18. Offer to help others - in their dream project</li> <li>19. Mentor, coach and support others </li> <li>20. Help others feel great about themselves - when they are around you</li> <li>21. Understand that almost all meaningful gestures are emotional - materialistic ways of showing gratitude is very impersonal and temporary </li> <li>22. Focus on creating wonderful memorable experiences than possessions which loses charm within short time </li> <li>23. Never force yourself to do these activities - they have to be fun for you as well as energize you - and it you do them as chore then stop</li> <li>24. Learn to recognize every good and appreciate everything - the small observations are the most powerful ones - life filled with many small-small happy moments creates the bestest life</li> <li>25. Train your mind to be thankful to challenges - which make you stretch and grow and make you super-achiever</li> <li>26. We must be thankful for all the positives - but - it is impossible to appreciate positives if we can't understand the relationship of overcoming odds and joy</li> <li>27. Meditate by visualizing with focus to identify at least 2-3 new things that you are grateful for - every day </li> <li>28. Express yourself - be yourself - discover yourself - accept yourself - love yourself - and then celebrate your uniqueness</li> <li>29. Improve your happiness in other areas of your life - by finding ways to be more meaningfully engaged and finding ways to uplift your emotional states</li> <li>30. Participate in a hobby you enjoy</li> <li>31. Create and chant your very own mantra and prayers of Gratitude</li> <li>32. Use all your 6 senses to feel - whatever your mind-body-soul is feeling - feel the pain and joy whatever that you ae feeling at that time </li> <li>33. Train and practice using language that makes you feel good about yourself - as well as makes others feel inspired too</li> <li>34. Become aware through practice - when you start taking good things for granted - without appreciating and being grateful for them</li> <li>35. Start focusing on what you have - rather than what others have and you don't have</li> <li>36. Stop comparing yourself with others - because we only feel what we focus on - so if you focus on what you have and feel grateful - how can you miss what you don't have</li> <li>37. Become involved in causes those are important to you - and makes you feel worthy doing them</li> <li>38. Recognize, become-aware of, cherish and Savor the good moments - whenever you notice you are feeling happy - be mindful of this feeling at that time by stopping whatever you are doing for few moments</li> <li>39. Nurture all your valuable and positive relationships - as we get good people in our life only through greatest blessings and good friends don't come along every day.</li> <li>40. Smile more often - even at strangers - at the cost of looking insane - believe me it is worth it - but you should follow the culture norm</li> <li>41. Avoid negative 24X7 news media - negative and toxic contents</li> <li>42. Avoid gossip or taking bad about someone especially behind their back</li> <li>43. Say thank you for the little things your loved ones do for you - things you normally take for granted</li> <li>44. Proactively welcome and seek changes and challenges and turn them into opportunities of growth</li> <li>45. Enjoy the moments of your daily Life - it is on many days an adventure filled with enriching experiences and endless possibilities</li> <li>46. Acknowledge the past BUT let go of regrets, griefs, losses - move on </li> <li>47. The true test of resiliency and gratefulness is when life is falling apart. </li> <li>48. Experiencing loss, frustration and trauma - will certainly flood us with negative feelings - and will make us think - what really do we have to be grateful about.</li> <li>49. Understand and expect that your life is going to give you everything that you put in efforts for OR deserve</li> <li>50. Life can be unfair for many people for longer recurring phases - having gratefulness enables us to get out of it - in spite of those catastrophes</li> <li>51. Stop linking or relating your happiness - with other people or something specific happening</li> <li>52. Understand that rainbows only happen because of rain and not without the rain</li> <li>53. Define your self-worth and self-esteem by your actions, thinking, determination and solving problems and never base it on your regrets and disappointments</li> <li>54. Plan and schedule time each day to learn a new skill that can better you as a person for your community.</li> <li>55. Improve work relationships - support your colleagues in this difficult times</li> <li>56. Finding reasons to be happy amidst uncertainty and fear - Start with noticing any little thing - however small</li> <li>57. Learn and practice calming and soothing ways to relax your brain and cool your emotions</li> <li>58. Pay utmost attention to your Self-Care </li></ul><p><br></p><p>#importanceofgratitude, #whyweneedtofeelgrateful, #benefitsofbeinggrateful, #howfeelinggratefulimpactsourwellbeing, #whyweneedtoworkonfindinggratitude, #whyeffortsforfeelinggratefulhastobedoneallthetime, #whyweneedtoworkhardtogenerategratitude, #ifyoucan'tfindblessingsyouwillbemiserable, #peoplewhodon'tappreciateblessingscreatehellforothers, #youhavemanyreasonstorejoice, #emotionalmentalphysicalbenefitsofgratitude, #howourrelationshipsbecomesbetterifwearegrateful, #workbecomemeaningfulwhenwehavegratitude, #howtomaintaingratitudejournal, #everydaypracticestonourishandnurturegratitude, #howtobegratefuleveryday, #howtoidentifyyourblessingsinlife, #listallyourpastaccomplsihments, #howtofindgratitudeduringyourtoughestphaseoflife, #findingblessingsduringhardtimes, #listhowyouhavemadedifferencetootherslife, #everydaygratitudebuildingactivities, #createacollageofhappymemories, #spendtimewithyourmostlovedones, #listallyourtriumphs, #listallthechallengesyouhaveovercome, #celebratemeaningfuloccasionswithyourlovedones, #helpotherstofeelbetter, #volunteerforsocialcauses, #makepositivedifferencetoothers #takebigdreamsandworktowardsthose, #giveyourloveunconditionally</p>