I am not a naturally grateful person- in fact, I’ve always been pretty much the opposite.
Gratitude doesn’t come easily to me.
My wife is the total opposite- nearly every day she’ll express gratitude for at least one thing in her life.
Her ability to feel and express gratitude is central to her happiness- they go hand-in-hand.
There is a mountain of research from the past 20 years that shows how effective gratitude is at making us happier.
Not only does it make us happier, but the research also shows that feeling and expressing gratitude helps build resilience, increases feelings of energy, it helps us cope with stress and gives us a greater sense of purpose.
So how does a grumpy, middle-aged oaf like me become more grateful?
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Like every good practice, gratitude has to be nurtured and harnessed.
You can’t turn it on like a switch and expect it to be there for you.
Nor can you force it.
Simply saying or even thinking “I’m so grateful for X” just doesn’t cut it- real gratitude is accompanied by heartfelt appreciation.
So how do you harness it?
Many years ago when I first started studying happiness, gratitude popped up pretty much immediately and so following all of the expert advice, I bought my gratitude journal.
But I didn't really take to it. Now I’m not dissing it- it works for millions of people, but I found it to be a bit of a chore.
It also felt forced and inauthentic.
I needed to develop a different way to practice gratitude.
I come from a meditation background, I even taught meditation for many years.
So I figured, why don’t I incorporate gratitude into a meditation-type practice?
The exercise evolved over the years into what has now become one of the main elements in Lite Mind, the breakthrough technique that helps you develop a happier and more fulfilled life.
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In total, I developed 64 audio exercises: short morning ones that last about 2 minutes and longer evening ones that last 8-10 minutes.
Each exercise is different and you don’t practice them every day.
By doing the exercises, you train your brain to tune into the good in your everyday life, and as a result, within a few weeks, you naturally become more grateful.
And you don’t have to take my word for it.
As the fantastic neuroscientist Risk Hanson shows in his book “Hardwiring Happiness”, by thinking about the good in our lives or even creating good thoughts, and holding onto these good thoughts, absorbing them for 20 or so seconds, and doing this regularly, brain scans show that these good thoughts get converted into neural structure.
In short, these positive memories activate positive emotions.
And the more you do this, the more your brain will change.
It’s called experience-dependent neuroplasticity.
So the Lite Mind exercises prompt you to think of things to be grateful for. And after just a few weeks of practice, your mind starts to tune into the good things in your everyday life and you become naturally more appreciative.
These exercises have had a very positive impact on my happiness levels.
I’m not saying I’m happy 100% of the time, that’s just not realistic.
But what I can tell you is that I am far happier than I've ever been.
I’m still an oaf, as my wife will tell you, but I’m a somewhat happier and more cheerful one.
Get Lite Mind for free: To show you how amazing the Lite Mind exercises are, simply click here to get a free, breakthrough happiness exercise.
About the author
Caemin O Connor is a business owner, a husband and father to 2 beautiful girls.
After years of practicing and teaching meditation, he got frustrated and a little bored with it.
So he started researching and developing new techniques.
He focused on happiness, as he realized the real reason why people try meditation, or any form of self improvement, is because they simply want to be happier.
Caemin spent years studying happiness and the various techniques involved in harnessing it, from gratitude, to compassion, from mindfulness to savoring nature.
The end result is Lite Mind, a breakthrough technique for developing long term happiness.
Simply click on the button below to get a free Lite Mind exercise.