Gratitude

One of the gifts of practicing gratitude is that it proves, even during the hard times, that things are not ALWAYS going wrong. Gratitude opens our eyes to all the times that life is actually going right. If we are constantly talking to ourselves about things gone awry, then we see every moment as an opportunity for something to break, to be late, or for our plans to go terribly wrong. Another benefit of choosing gratitude is that we build a reservoir of positive experiences, which help us to cope during those dry and difficult times in our lives. Now, I do not advocate for using gratitude as a way to ignore genuine problems and to suppress difficult emotions. Instead, after sitting with God in prayer about those difficult things, you may want to take the time to then practice gratitude. It can open your eyes to the beauty that resides in the midst of those trouble.