Why you should practice gratitude

We live in strange times surrounded by things that are supposed to make us happy. We labor under the illusion that getting more of such things is the goal of life. And yet studies show that the so-called happiness index of humankind as a whole has not improved. Paradoxically more and more people report a chronic dissatisfaction with the lives they lead. These people aren’t facing first world problems; they aren’t fighting for basic survival or struggling to get their next meal. Many a times they are from well to do families and have a good life in economical terms. What could be the reason behind this?

Spiritual seekers and philosophers have studied the causes and origins of this debilitating mindset for many centuries now. Gautam Buddha famously said – desire is the sole cause of sorrow. All of a man’s unhappiness can be traced to his limitless desires, which never seem to end. And yet, the modern man finds a little way out of this predicament. We are by nature goal seeking beings and much of humanity’s progress can be attributed to an inherent instinct in man to desire or seek a better world for himself. So how does a modern man find solace? Is there even a way out of unhappiness for him?

When Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar was asked a similar question, he referenced the following verse from Bhagavad Gita to shine light on the solution – “Yadrccha-labha-santustoDvandvatitoVimatsarah.” It means that we should cultivate a spirit of contentment and satisfaction with what we have instead of always looking for more of everything. Inculcate a spirit of gratitude. In other words, trade your expectations for appreciation and your whole life will change. What words of wisdom! One doesn’t have to be a sage or mystic to follow this golden advice of the master himself. We can all make a conscious effort to move our focus from scarcity to abundance. After all, whatever we focus on grows.

Now, how to actually inculcate this habit in our lives?
Gurudev advises us to make it a daily practice. Take a few minutes out each day and be mindful of all the little things that happen which help us survive and thrive – our friends, our family, even the things we take for granted like the human heart which beats constantly so that we can live. Doing this not only improves our happiness levels but it also helps us weed out negative emotions.

Out of all the negative emotions that surround us, fear and anger impact us more than the others. They rob us of our inner peace and at times stretch our sanity to the extreme. Gratitude is the antidote to both of these emotions. It is impossible to be simultaneously grateful and angry or fearful. When we acknowledge what is good in our lives, we stop focusing on the negative and instead make use of what we already have. Happiness then becomes a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy. Like all good habits, the habit of gratitude pays off big.

Consider this – if you knew that doing a particular habit daily would considerably improve your overall well being and it would only take a few minutes a day, you would do it without fail! Feeling contentment and gratitude for the abundance in life is one such habit. It costs you almost nothing to do, and pays dividends that last a lifetime. The only catch, it should be a consistent habit. We don’t go to the gym one day and get fit for life. The practice of gratitude is like a gym for the mind, do it daily to reap maximum rewards.