🙏 Why Gratitude Is So Important For Inner Peace & Contentment...

“I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy” - Will Arnett.

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Strap yourself in - this is a long one (but it’ll be worth it, I promise).

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I believe gratitude is vital in this day and age.

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So many people suffer with all sorts of problems, yet they literally have the world at their fingertips…

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So why all the suffering?

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In my opinion, it’s a lack of gratitude.

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And it’s not totally your fault.

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We're continually bombarded with marketing and ‘suggestions’ as to what we should be doing, what we should be thinking and how we should be acting.

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After a while we just end up confused.

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Too many options…

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Too many ideas coming from external sources…

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Too much information coming our way.

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It ends up with a loss of identity…

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A confusion around who we really are at our core.

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And that leads to suffering.

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We end up depressed, anxious and potentially addicted to some behaviour that makes us feel better in the moment and allows us to escape the confusion and madness.

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The only way out of that hole is to go inwards and work on what’s important to you…

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What are your core beliefs?

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Who are you at your core?

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Your ‘true-self’?

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I’ve drifted slightly away from gratitude here but that’s ok, it’s all relevant.

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Back to gratitude…

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When you start to look for things to be grateful for in your life - the small things…

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Your perception of life changes.

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You start to forget about all the tiny ‘problems’ (that are probably currently big ‘problems’)...

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And you start to see the bigger picture.

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Eventually, you progress even further and you just become grateful (as a whole)...

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Not grateful for individual things in your life…

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Just grateful.

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Grateful for life as a whole.

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(That’s something you probably have never thought about before reading this, and it may not even sink in at the moment if you’re currently suffering in some way.)

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When you get to that point though…

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There is no more suffering.

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Life becomes joyful - NO MATTER WHAT IS GOING ON EXTERNALLY.

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The reason I say that is because I noticed this change in myself.

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Initially I started out every morning thinking about three things I was grateful for over the past twenty four hours.

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Tiny things like being grateful for having a home to live in, having food in the fridge and cupboard, and having clothes and shoes to wear (seems silly right?).

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But we tend to forget about those little things…

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And the more we forget, the less grateful and more bitter we become…

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And then we start to suffer - always wanting more and more and always chasing something - “when I get here or there or this, things will be great!” (simply not the case - AT ALL!)

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Back to my own experience…

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Then I noticed I was finding it harder and harder to be grateful for the individual things in my life…

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And I thought to myself “what’s going on here? - I’m still grateful, I can feel it, but I can’t pinpoint what I’m grateful for”.

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And then it struck me - I was just grateful.

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Grateful for being alive…

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Grateful for the senses of sight, hearing, smell and taste (those things that allow me to experience ‘physical life’ - yes, those things you never even think twice about).

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Grateful for life as a whole.

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And that’s when life really changes for you…

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You forget about the small (completely insignificant) ‘stuff’ and focus on the bigger picture.

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Life becomes joyful and you gain a feeling of inner-peace and contentment that’s hard to break.

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So…

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What have you got to be grateful for today?

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And every day from this point forward - think about what you’re actually grateful for that day…

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Eventually you’ll get to a point where you’re just ‘grateful’, and ‘suffering’ will be a thing of the past!