Cultivating a Heart of Gratitude

You go through daily life and it can become mundane quickly. Seeing tasks as something that just needs to be done and not seeing the positives in it while completing each of the tasks other than maybe some basic viewpoints. It’s easy to get into this mindset, if you are not actively trying to create the mindset that you want to be in it will easily become a negative or nonpositive mindset.

I get that becoming intentional about seeing all the beauty of each task you have to do may seem a bit ridiculous. 

Just know, it is so worth it to put in the work to create the mindset that you want to have for yourself. When you have created a mindset of gratitude seeing the good and feeling grateful in all things will be so rewarding. No one wants to have their daily life feel like it’s a burden. So, what’s stopping you from changing your life to something positive and good for you?

Doing things out of love and a happy heart

Try it out and see the improvements it makes in your life. The mindset shift will make going through your daily life much more enjoyable when you are genuinely grateful for each task you do and the days you get to live through. Life isn’t promised so living a life where you a grateful for simply getting to live another day and experience whatever the day has in store is an amazing attitude to have for yourself.

Life can seem so hard and mentally draining and a lot of that can be affected by the way you perceive everything you’re doing in your daily life. If you see everything as a burden in your life or not seeing any good in it will create the same effect on how each thing feels to you. BUT if you choose to see and focus on all the good in each task or thing in your daily life you will see the good and the fruit it’s bringing to your life.

Most things that happen in your daily life you have no control over or you simply have to do. Things become very repetitive and it’s hard to see the joy in a task when it’s your 1024th time doing that task. So I challenge you to see the joy in your tasks. I challenge you to see all the good in each task. Even when it’s the last thing you want to be doing, look for the beauty and what you can be grateful for in that moment. Eventually, if you practice this enough your mindset on those tasks will change and a grateful heart will come more naturally.

Doing things out of gratitude for being able to do them

Some practical ideas of doing this are if you are doing chores in the home to see them as blessings to get to do because it means you and your family are living life and using things in your home. What a blessing it is to get to do the laundry of your family when you know they are dirty because they got to wear those clothes each day, you got to spend another day with them, and they got to experience the joys of life in those clothes.

Instead of seeing them as dirty piles of laundry, you have to do, that as a burden. See what the dirty pile of clothes means for your household. It doesn’t have to be a super deep meaning behind everything you are doing, but find the beauty in each thing. You will always be able to find something even if it takes some extra digging. 

Getting to take care of to take care of your space is a blessing and you can be grateful for that as you are taking care of it. Getting to fill up your gas take is a blessing and you can be grateful for that as you are filling your tank up. Needing to meal prep, grocery shop, and cook are all blessings and you can be grateful for getting to do them while doing those tasks.

There are so many things in life that if you just flipped the way you viewed it you would see how much of a true blessing it is and how grateful you should be for getting to do those tasks. Not to be dramatic, but many people are wishing that those things would come true for them. All the tasks you see as burdens others are hoping they someday will get to do. You may have even wished for these tasks at some point in your life. Whether you realized it or not or lost sight of the value each thing has as the tasks became mundane.

If you wished to be able to afford a car or home you also wished to maintain those things whether you realized it or not. Because of this these tasks that you get to do to take care of the things you wished for are huge blessings in your life.

Doing things for others

Another way to view the tasks you are doing in your life is to do the things for others. Not in a way of saying I did this for you and vocalizing that or expecting something out of it. Rather, to do each thing seeing the benefits it not only gives to you, but others and wanting to bless them. Getting to bless others through your services is an amazing blessing not only to them but also to you. 

Getting to take care of your home or space, family, or people in your life that you are grateful for is such a blessing. Viewing all the things you are doing to take care of these things as a blessing is so easy when you see your space or people around you as the blessings they are.

Getting to take care of your car in whatever way it may be like getting gas, changing the oil, maintenance, cleaning it, etc. is a blessing because having a vehicle is a blessing for you. These simple mindset shifts and being grateful for anything and everything we have will show you all the beauty in your life.

When you are grateful for others you will want to do things to bless them. Doing your daily tasks to the fullest and with a happy heart is a blessing to those around you.

Seeing all the things you can/should be grateful for

There are going to be negative things that happen throughout the day and there are going to be hard days. This does not mean you can not find all the good and things you can be grateful for throughout those days or during those circumstances.

You don’t need to be fake about these things either. If your car broke down you don’t have to be grateful for your car breaking down. You can, however, be grateful for getting the situation fixed in whatever capacity it was able to be, or maybe be grateful for being safe in that situation, etc. No matter the circumstances you have in your life there is always going to be some beauty in it, you just need to look for it.

You do not have to be overly grateful for every circumstance or not feel your feelings. When cultivating a heart of gratitude you do not have to put aside any of your feelings. Cultivating a heart of gratitude is simply becoming intentional about looking for anything you CAN be grateful for in each circumstance. You can be grateful and also be sad about a circumstance. Feelings and emotions can coexist.

My challenge for you is…

• Strive to have a heart of gratitude for everything in your life. Try again when you fall short of this goal.
• Look for the beauty always, but especially when you are seeing the negatives of your situation. Try to always flip the script of how you are viewing your circumstances.
• Do everything you do with a grateful heart. Take a second to reset if you notice you are not in that mindset.
• Understand that when you have a negative outlook things will not somehow become good or happy for you. You have to set your mindset to see the good to be able to feel the good in anything you are doing.

My hope for you is for your life to become beautiful. For you to become intentional in changing the way you see things in your life so that you are able to feel the beauty of life. No longer feeling like everything is a burden because seeing things as this even if it’s unintentional will drain you. Becoming grateful for those same things will fill your cup so much it’s crazy!

This is a learned skill, so be easy on yourself. You will fail some days, just be willing to try again. It will get easier to see the good and become grateful for the things in your life. You got this! and deserve to see the beauty that is your life.