Estimated Reading Time: 10 mins
Introduction
How do you begin to improve your life when most of your experiences have been challenging?
If you’re anything like I once was, you may feel as though you’ve been cheated out of years of happiness and peace.
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Your perception of what happens in your life may have been heavily shaped by past influences.
Traumatic experiences, in particular, can shape the way you see the world.
The potential for having better when you’re accustomed to regular seasons of mental distress, can feel like a fairy tale beyond reach.
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For many, doubt tends to outweigh faith because we grow dependent on the reliability of our eyes, shaping our beliefs through the things we see.
My own experiences left me subconsciously expecting things to always go wrong.
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Even during periods of peace, I would feel apprehensive, never expecting it to last.
That lingering doubt would often lead to the very outcomes I feared.
Life events could unfold positively, yet I would subconsciously brace myself for the impact of devastation.
It was a deeply unhealthy way of approaching life and it’s possible you may relate.
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The Power of Belief
What we see can be downright compelling, but what we believe matters more.
The reason many of us are caught in a cycle of never getting ahead lies in our belief systems.
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Our beliefs are shaped by our experiences, and it becomes easier to perceive things negatively when we rely on the vivid details of our past.
We know exactly what lack, struggle, mental torment, and fractured relationships look like, which is why having faith in something better can feel difficult.
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Faith is the practice of exercising our ability to visualise and anticipate what is unknown, unseen, and yet to be experienced.
Naturally, it can be tough to do.
However, while we’re alive, we owe it to ourselves to strive for a better life, regardless of our age, background, or past experiences.
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Just because we start at a disadvantaged position doesn’t mean we must remain living a disadvantaged life.
The problems you’ve faced do not determine where you end — you do.
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Why Your ‘View’ Matters
To develop a more productive mindset, it’s important we adopt a new perspective on past experiences.
This might be difficult to hear, but no matter what we’ve endured, there will always be others who have endured worse.
The severity of our experiences can make this difficult to accept, but ultimately, it’s the truth.
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We often feel empathy for those facing harsher conditions, because our personal insight helps us relate.
It brings into our awareness that what we went through, however painful, could have been far worse.
To create an opportunity for developing our faith then, we need to begin shifting our focus away from the negative.
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Negative thinking creates a fertile environment within the subconscious, attracting negative outcomes.
The actions we take, the way we behave, and the thoughts we have often reflect our state of mind — even when we’re not consciously aware of it.
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If we want to experience life differently, our conscious thoughts will require modification.
It begins with small steps.
And a key part of that process is recognising not just how intense our experiences can be, but how much we’ve survived and achieved.
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The Power of Gratitude
The weight of my problems previously diminished the level of value I placed in the power of gratitude.
I didn’t fully understand the depth and potency of gratefulness until I practiced it with intention.
This is particularly important, given how easily our minds fixate on the worst of our past.
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It’s often easier to remember bad experiences in detail than the good.
The same can be said when it comes to everyday life.
We remember poor customer service far better than we remember good customer service.
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We’re wired to give more focus to problems, and this isn’t always a bad thing — if our default response is solution-focused.
For those controlled by their emotions, it can be catastrophic.
For those led by faith, however, it becomes an opportunity to build resilience and develop character.
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Practicing gratitude is a way of shifting our focus away from life’s problems and giving concentration to life’s blessings.
In doing so, we minimise the negative emotions associated with our difficulties.
We also bring to the forefront, feelings that will help move our lives forward more productively.
Recognising our existing blessings and learning to anticipate the good helps us grow in our faith.
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Like I once believed, you may feel you don’t have much to be grateful for.
But there are things, which also like me, you may be overlooking daily on a basic level.
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By reading this post, you demonstrate that you can see, that you woke up this morning, and that you have access to technology.
These are things that many do not have and are compelling reasons to express gratitude.
Similarly, if you’ve eaten a meal, remember that millions are enduring the misery of starvation — another reason to be grateful.
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The Benefits of Gratitude
If you can begin listing the blessings you often overlook, that consistent practice of gratefulness will have a distinctive and favourable impact on your wellbeing.
Your mindset will gradually shift, and you’ll find yourself drawing on the positives in your life almost by default.
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Rather than feeling immediate overwhelm at the onset of problems, with your renewed mental vision, your thoughts will begin to draw on optimism.
More importantly, you’ll focus on chasing solutions, as the soil of your subconscious mind has been fertilised with the productive seeds of gratitude.
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Gratitude inspires peace of mind and once you’ve experienced it, you’ll find yourself determined to pursue, repeat, and protect it.
Responding proactively to difficult situations is one way we can actively protect our state of peace.
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There are also additional benefits that follow.
We build resilience, strengthen productive thinking, deepen our reliance on proactive action, and increase our self-confidence.
Together, these qualities subconsciously contribute to an elevated way of living.
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Summary
To summarise the power and benefits of gratitude, I’ll keep it simple.
Gratitude promotes positive feelings.
Those healthier emotions nourish the soil of our mind, encouraging more optimistic thoughts.
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An optimistic attitude helps us adopt a more productive perspective on life’s events and strengthens our ability to deal with them.
Dealing with these experiences builds character, deepens our gratitude, strengthens our sense of inner peace, and grows our faith.
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This combination, in its entirety, creates a cycle that leads to more productive outcomes and a better quality of life.
To change your present from your past, start small, but most importantly, start with gratitude.
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you – 1 Thessalonians 5:18
