Rushe Fitness gym owner Emmet Rushe looks at the health benefits of gratitude.

This week’s challenge is one that we all need to do much, MUCH more.

We live in an age of instant gratification.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • SnapChat
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Each of these platforms have their own way for us to be ‘liked’. 

Whenever you do a post, or picture, or story or tweet, our validation for the post comes through the amount of ‘thumbs up’ or ‘hearts’ or likes the post gets.

So, it is easy to have this transfer over to our everyday lives.

We become so accustomed to instant gratification that we forget how to appreciate what we have and how lucky we actually are.

Most of us are extremely fortunate for where we are right now, we just need to appreciate this more.

But, when you are looking at other people’s ‘lives’ on social media and seeing how ‘lucky’ they seem to be compared to you, it is easy to think that you are missing out on something.

You aren’t.

Social media is a highlight reel. 

All the best parts of someone’s life gets put up, rarely do you see anything bad. Hell, let’s face it, rarely do you see actual normality.

If you are following some celebrities or Insta bloggers, a lot of it is completely fake.

It’s all an illusion that took 100 pictures to get the right one, or renting a car to make it look like they had an expensive one, or buying products and then saying they were sponsored by the brand, when they weren’t. (And we haven’t even mentioned photoshop)

All of this goes on with these bloggers and you compare your humdrum, everyday life to this and feel bad you aren’t them.

They aren’t them.

Being grateful for what we have is very important and we need to be aware of how important it is as it has a range of health benefits:

  • Protects from stress
  • Protects from depression
  • Decreases worry
  • Improves self 
  • Better Sleep
  • Gives more fulfilling relationships
  • Makes you more happy and content. 

Why not try a gratitude journal?

The best way that you can start to help yourself with gratitude is to keep a ‘Gratitude Journal’.

You can buy actual journals for this that have motivational sayings on different pages along with pages for you to write your daily gratitude in, but a normal diary or notebook will do the same thing.

If you are wondering how to start, it is as easy as this;

Either first thing in the morning or last thing at night, you write what you are grateful for that day in your journal.

Today, I am Grateful for……..

Then you list off a few things that you are grateful for.

As an example, for me it would be like this;

Today I am grateful for my health, my daughters’ smiles, my friends, being able to help others, having a job, having a house, my wife. 

Nothing overly exciting or Instagrammable, but it’s real and it is what we have 99% of the time.

Once you start to realise that you have way, WAY more things to be grateful for than you think, you will be a happier version of yourself.

So, make a start and after a few weeks of keeping your gratitude journal, you will be grateful that you started.
#leanin2019

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