Gratitude for Reducing Stress
It’s so easy to get overwhelmed during these stressful times we are living in. The skill of combating stress is one that we can learn to achieve a heightened quality of life. A very effective way to battle stress is with cognitive redirection as well as focusing on positive aspects of our lives instead of negatives. By acknowledging any good fortunes in our lives, while not allowing problems and setbacks to take over our outlook on life is a simple, yet important way to deal with any stress we may encounter.
It may be easier to feel ungrateful about the bad situations and circumstance we are dealt with than to be grateful for those things we have, and the achievements we have made. Occasionally it takes something disastrous happening to get us thinking about how grateful we can be for the things often taken for granted: a roof overhead, a warm bed and hot shower. By identifying those things we should be grateful for is an exercise in positive thinking, and can actually change the way that we see things, and how it can balance out the effects of stress.
The factors causing stress are many, but it is defined as a state where an individual is not in equilibrium with their individual surroundings. It is known to us now that the distinction between both body and mind is of limited usefulness. Negative thoughts are able to have an affect on the body, just as trauma can affect the mind. Experiences of stress prompting negative emotions may have a direct affect when it comes to body chemistry. In response to any threat or stress, our bodies produce hormones and other chemicals, such as adrenalin and cortisol.
Fortunately the opposite also applies. A calming environment and positive thoughts can combat the physical and mental effects of stress. By taking a little bit of time out every day to concentrate on the positive - even as little as five minutes - you can separate yourself from the causes and effects of stress.
The need to recognize those bursts of good fortune can have a radical effect on our perspective. Problems have a tendency to cast a dark cloud so to speak over the parts of our lives that are going well and distorting our perspective on things. Let’s take for example that sense of panic we feel when tasks are uncompleted instead of giving ourselves some praise over what we did accomplish. When the period of stress is prolonged or extended, it is entirely possible for us to develop unhealthy patterns of jumping automatically to a negative conclusion. By focusing on those things that make us happy is a very powerful technique we can use to overcome that pattern of thinking negatively, thereby reducing stress as well as giving a boost to the immune system.
When you are stressed or tense, it may start out looking like quite a bit of hard work to identify those things you are grateful for. Practice and patience will provide you with the ability to take the time to smell the roses so to speak. At first it may be a case of hindsight being 20/20 but with time it will become automatic.
While training yourself to be able to recognize those many things to be grateful for, you will stop taking things for granted. Seeing those items that may seem trivial to some, such as the bud of a new leaf on a tree, or a new tulip in the garden, will trigger the recognition and with it the internal need for celebration. As it becomes integrated more easily into your daily routine you will be able to see just how the process can reinforce your ability to deal with stress while you practice positive thinking.