Gratitude is the "quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness." Psychology Today describes gratitude as "an emotion expressing appreciation for what one has" and shares "that we can deliberately cultivate gratitude" and that expressing gratitude "is associated with increased energy, optimism and empathy."* Okay, wait, am I ready for this?
I chose this word in the middle of December, not being one to wait until after the year had started. What I found, though, was that this expression of thankfulness and appreciation when life is throwing fast balls and curve balls and too many balls to recover and respond too takes deliberate practice. The end of December and the first of January brought more trauma and stress that most of the previous twelve months combined. Because much of this involves others I will be very vague here, but I can say I was stretched emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually almost non-stop for about a month. To say I was exhausted would be an understatement. I had nothing left, and still I had a family to care for.
Grateful? Thankful? Appreciative of the crisis and the trauma and the stress? No, not so much. Maybe I should pick a different word...it's not too late yet, is it?
"...that we can deliberately cultivate gratitude..." Standing (or crumpled on the floor) in the midst of a crisis and being grateful, thankful and appreciative is going to take deliberate practice. Seriously, am I ready for this? No, probably not, but here goes anyway! Because a life with increased energy, optimism and empathy sounds like something worth working for. I promise to share updates as the process continues.
How about you? Did you have a word for 2015? How did it go? What did you learn?
Have you chosen a word for 2016? If so, I would love to hear about it! If not, I encourage you to do so...it really is never to late.
* https://www.psychologytoday.com/basics/gratitude
No comments:
Post a Comment