Gratitude changes your perspective for the better. Your outlook on your daily life can deeply affect the way you feel about food, your image, and your self-confidence.
About a month ago, I found myself complaining about almost everything around me. My job, my apartment, my outlook on my future, my lack of focus on my goals, and more. I was being really hard on myself and blaming almost everything around me because I was feeling unsatisfied, but most importantly, I was being ungrateful. I was being ungrateful for all the wonderful friends and family that surrounds me that support and love me. I was comparing my life situation to others (i.e. Facebook) and feeling inadequate, and I was feeling ungrateful towards my health. I let myself just slide down a path of negativity, and one day I heard myself talking and I thought “I sound so negative. What am I so negative about?”. I looked around and all I had were things to be grateful for: my cool beachy apartment, my friends and family that love me, my healthy body, my time, and my freedom. I opened my eyes, took a deep breath in, and exhaled positivity. I decided to look at the glass half full. I didn’t have a reason not to. I’m making a conscious choice and decision to be grateful for my life, and whatever it is that I’m doing at the present moment. Consequently, I feel less of an urge to “cheat” with unhealthy foods, I feel more motivated to workout and help others achieve their workout goals, and I feel more present.
Do you ever find yourself in a similar situation? Are you constantly complaining about your job, friends, significant other, weight, image? Do you live for the weekend? Are you happy? Maybe you’re missing that feeling of gratitude. It’s a profound feeling that can change everything.
Stay clear of people who complain a lot, or at the very least don’t join in on their complaining party. You know who those friends are! They just LOVE to complain and LOVE sucking you into their pitty party. Everyone’s susceptible to joining in on complaining, but who wants to spend their time thinking and talking negatively? All we have in life is the present moment, and if we don’t cherish each moment with gratitude, then we are left feeling very unsatisfied. This feeling of unsatisfactory leads to binge-eating, overeating, and eating out of stress. You might find yourself using food to fill that void of dissatisfaction.
ACTION: If you’re feeling dissatisfied in your life, start by writing down 3 things that you are grateful for before going to bed every night. You can log it in your phone, or put pen to paper. (There have been studies showing that putting pen to paper is cathartic, so I suggest pen to paper). After a week or two of focusing your brain on positivity and gratitude, you will probably start to wake up feeling refreshed and energized to take on the day. You might start to find enjoyment in places you never thought were enjoyable before, and you will begin to make better eating choices.
Gratitude is the best stress-reduction tactic in life. It’s impossible to feel stressed and grateful at the same time. They are incompatible.
Start feeling grateful today. Tell someone that you appreciate them, and that you are grateful for their friendship. How good would it feel if someone unexpectedly told you that they appreciate you or something that you did?
If you find yourself in a life situation that is harmful and unhealthy, then DO something to change it. Otherwise it is the definition of insanity to keep inflicting pain on yourself if you have the power to change it.
3 things i’m grateful for:
1. My family
2. Where I live (I <3 the beach!)
3. My health
If you’d like to read more about finding gratitude in your life, I suggest reading Eckhart Tolle’s “A New Earth”, or “The Power of Now”. They are both very powerful books that gave me a new perspective on gratitude, presence, and satisfaction.
