I believe these two concepts tend to go hand in hand. to be grateful allows you to gain a more balanced perspective on life, and I find this to be one of those niggly tasks which require daily practice to achieve. let me explain.
I'm sure it's no surprise that I, like every other human, can wrap myself up in negative mindsets. it's so easy for a shitty mood to spiral downwards even more when you scrutinise your emotions and begin to invalidate them. if I'm disheartened because of getting a bad grade in an assignment, or losing a friend, or some other negative series of events, I can very quickly get sucked into thoughts of 'I'm not smart enough' or 'I didn't try enough' or 'I'm a boring person'.
and hence begins a toxic cycle.
this is where I either chose to sleep it off, waking up afresh the next morning with a clean slate, or I decide to be proactive and do something about it - then and there (often the latter choice is best, just saying). I am a big fan of writing down feelings in order to decipher them, and so I let them all spill out onto a page without judgement - usually messily scrawled and barely coherent. a nice lil coffee is a great comfort in this situation, and it definitely puts me in a better headspace to sort through the problem at hand. then after reading back over the words, I internalise them, allow myself to observe them as if they are no longer attached to me, and flip the page.
I then proceed to bullet point every single positive thing that I can muster. and I can assure you there are always so many more than you'd initially expect. take a good hard look at your life and what/who is around you and it tends to become pretty apparent. for example, I'm grateful for a roof above my head, enough food to never truly be hungry, my family and friends, financial stability (I mean I'm racking up a nice old student loan but that's okay), living in a safe country and a damn cool city. I'm grateful for the two little pot plants sitting on my windowsill as I write this (of which I recently named Jeffery and Susan). I'm grateful for the sun shining even though its a bit overcast today, and music and the free weekly student magazine at uni.
it's so easy to find things, no matter how small and seemingly insignificant, to be grateful for. and in turn, identifying all the positive things in your life can immediately change your perspective on whatever put you in a negative mindset in the first place. if I got a shit grade in an assignment, I can turn that situation around and realise that, at the conclusion of my life (morbid yeah sorry but bear with me), the grade I'm so upset about now will be so damn irrelevant. gratefulness allows me to almost 'balance out' my emotions in order to stop spending mental energy on things that ultimately don't really matter long-term. at the end of your life, you don't want to be full of regret - having fallen victim to the societal trend of getting too wrapped up in the negatives of life. while I don't necessarily believe happiness is always the end goal (that conversation is for another time) I am a firm believer that genuine appreciation for what you have is a huge factor in a fulfilling life.
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