The power of gratitude as a transforming element in life

In the past two months, we have learned the importance of truth and acceptance. This process helps a new attitude to emerge in us, through which we are predisposed to believe in ourselves. Now let's focus on gratitude.

I believe that gratitude is always an option. And you?

• Related article: "Acceptance and its relevance when overcoming difficult moments"

Gratitude in human development

Childhood is the best time to instill the most important values ​​and principles in life, one of which is gratitude. The child tends to repeat the behavior of the parents or more significant people, based on observation.

Your brain will be more stimulated whenever you feel gratitude. This pleasant sensation releases the pleasure hormone, serotonin., which will reinforce the tendency for the repetition of this behavior in life.

People who learned the act of gratitude in childhood have a greater chance of achieving school success and develop excellent interpersonal relationships. They become individuals with mental clarity and an open attitude towards life..

A teenager with a grateful heart will place more value on the important things in life than any other. Gratitude works like a giant magnet for opportunities. and it is a clear sign that the young person can live in the present.

Also in the adult phase, being grateful is key to access many of the good things in life. This affective, cognitive, behavioral and spiritual state fosters greater success in interpersonal relationships, stimulates well-being, as well as the recognition and admiration of others.

Several studies have verified the usefulness of the act of thanking to achieve a happy, pleasant, and full of fulfillment life, and that generates pleasant sensations in the person.

There are countless advantages to being a grateful person. It is more than a matter of education. It is a very promising and honorable lifestyle!

Life is a continuous process, constantly changing. In this process we must let grow the customs and healthy habits that were instilled in us and multiply them for the next generations, especially when we refer to fundamental values ​​such as gratitude.

• You may be interested in: "Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): principles and characteristics"

Is living in ingratitude a choice?

To answer the question very directly, I think so. It is a choice and unfortunately there are many people who choose not to be grateful..

But when you get to know the lives of these people more closely, we have to understand and accept them, without judging. And because of the ingratitude of others I don't have to transform myself. Everyone has to live with their choices.

We spend so much time suffering with this and that, angry, resentful or ungrateful... But if we stop next to nature and admire a simple garden or the waves on the beach, we can contemplate with great clarity and reality. Inevitably, we will end up dying, but that simple garden and the waves of the sea will remain there. We are really very insignificant!

You are the one who chooses from today and for the rest of your life, at every moment, to be or not to be a grateful person. Gratitude can and should be an action that develops automaticallyJust like brushing your teeth. It must become a daily behavior without which we feel incomplete.

Each of us has to find our own ways to create, feel and develop our gratitude.. It thus becomes a vital attitude: "I am grateful for breathing... I'm thankful for loving... I'm grateful to have a family... I'm thankful for, in my head, being able to fly...I'm thankful for being thankful!"

change and growth

Much has been discovered in recent years regarding how gratitude can affect and change the quality of people's lives. This quality of life only occurs if it is associated with a change in the way of thinking.

Even a totally depressed, impatient, or selfish person can change their thoughts by emotionally balancing their heart and exercising gratitude on a daily basis.

To understand this positive effect on the mind, it is necessary to explain the effect of oxytocin, a chemical produced by the hypothalamus, in specific areas called the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei.

Now, this substance is released by the brain when the feeling of gratitude is activated. Is about a reward system that is the basis of satisfaction and self-esteem. This hormone generates happiness and is responsible for pleasure and the feeling of well-being. If you feel grateful every day, you will be happier.

As life teaches us lessons, we tend to grow, not only intellectually, but also emotionally. For this, it is necessary that we place certain behaviors and feelings in our lives. They will make our lives really worthwhile, in this world so full of darkness. Gratitude plays the role of guiding us through obstacles, challenges and traps.

Gratitude has contagious power! There are moments when it seems impossible to feel or be grateful for the pain, suffering, or sadness experienced. But everything in life has a purpose and, most of the time, we do not understand our experiences at the exact moment in which we live them. Of course, the change of thought and affective growth are fundamental to living in gratitude.