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Expressing Gratitude

 

"The universe must be like, what more do I have to do to wake these people up? Make water, their most precious resource, rain down from the sky?" - Jen Sincero

I'm grateful I live on a planet with scenes like this one. 

    This quote from Sincero's book, You are a Badass, resonated with me and helped me realize how much more gratitude I need to be giving towards the universe and my experiences. 

    It's very easy to fall into a victim mentality. While we all need sympathy and care every once in a while, thinking the world is against you and there's nothing you can do about it won't help you achieve your goals. Of course, that's easier said than done. It takes a lot more effort to put yourself head-first into the world and its scary setbacks and opportunities of failure it provides, but it's the only way to improve yourself in the long run. Negative thinking patterns such as always finding a way to make yourself the victim in any given situation is a hard rut to break out of, but it's entirely possible.

    And I think a great way to break out of this habit is by expressing gratitude. It might be easy to go with negativity as the default, but it's just as easy to switch your mentality into thinking about the positive. Once this habit switches, from the negative thoughts to the bright-side ones, it's all up hill. 

    For example, I might find myself saying subconsciously,

                                                             "I can't believe we're losing to this team... why did I make that pass... I'll always be a slow runner."

    Instead, I should be thinking,

I'm so lucky to be physically able to run and jump and play a sport. This might be the last time I ever play lacrosse so I need to have fun and live in the moment!"

Changing my mental perspective will help me in my future because I'll be a happier, more positive person that is resilient towards setbacks or failure. Expressing gratitude for this amazing life the universe gives me is refreshing and empowering. 

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