Gratitude: Expectations Vs. Reality
Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, appreciative, and grateful. It is a mental or emotional state in which a person is aware of the good things that have happened to them and typically feels thankful for those things.
So why is gratitude so beneficial?
Gratitude has been linked with several benefits, including increased happiness, better physical health, decreased stress and anxiety, and improved sleep. Grateful people also tend to be more optimistic and have better social relationships.
When we experience gratitude, our brains release dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin. These neurotransmitters make us feel good, and they have a host of positive effects on our mental and physical health. When we’re grateful, we tend to be happier and more positive. We also tend to be more forgiving and less judgmental. Additionally, gratitude can increase our resilience in the face of stress and adversity. When we express gratitude to the people in our lives, they feel appreciated and loved. This makes them more likely to want to help us and be there for us when we need them.
What then can we say about expectations in gratitude?
We have seen the benefits of gratitude in the above paragraphs. However, gratitude doesn't just happen magically, you have to put in some effort to cultivate it. One way to do this is by setting expectations for gratitude. This means that you should expect to feel grateful and be thankful for the good things that happen in your life. When you do this, you'll start to see the good in everything and appreciate the little things more. When we do this, we are also likely to be forgiving and understanding when things don't go our way. It can be hard sometimes but can be easy if we first open our minds and believe that the situation at hand should not deprive us of living our best life.
The Reality
As humans, we hope for the best but often times we expect the worst to happen. We listen to motivational speeches, read motivational books to free us from despair but on the long run we relapse. Majority of us never express gratitude for what we are blessed it presently. Even if you spend hours on hours trying to educate about the benefits of showing gratitude at every given opportunity. Most people, however, do not live in a state of gratitude.
They are too busy looking at the negative aspects of their lives and obsessing over things they don't have. This creates a state of scarcity and leads to unhappiness. Would you blame them? Well, the answer is subjective. If you walk in their shoes, you would perhaps know what it feels like to have no willingness to show gratitude when things are not working in your favor. So these group of people needs constant orientation to try and convert them and make them see more of the benefits.
Gratitude is especially important during times of war. When we are faced with violence, hatred, and darkness, gratitude can be a light that guides us back to the good. It can remind us of the humanity that still exists in the world, even when it seems like all we see is darkness.
When we’re constantly bombarded with images and stories of death and destruction, it’s easy to become jaded and lose sight of the good in the world. That’s where gratitude comes in.
By focusing on the good things in our lives – even during the worst of times – we can keep our hope and optimism alive. This is not an entirely difficult thing to achieve. The toughest part is the beginning part. Once you begin, the rest becomes history. I would like to particularly add at this juncture that whatever thing you are going through, you are not the only one in it. The vicissitudes of life should not be a determinant to your happiness and expression of love and kindness to the next man on the street. Let’s face it, life isn’t fair to anybody.
The earlier we embrace this fact, the better for everyone. Humans should stop personalizing problems and use it as a cover to be aggressive and mean to everybody they meet daily. A simple "Thank you" or "i appreciate you" won't change your name or make you less of a man or woman that you are. Show gratitude, give compliments. Let’s breed a generation of sane, moral and prudent people by taking it one step at a time.
