The Impact of Daily Gratitude on Stress
Stress affects us all in one way or another, but we needn't let enduring it become the norm. Nurturing sufficient strength to combat stressful times before they derail us is a life's work. Fortunately, forming strategies to allay the worst of the damage is remarkably simple and effective if you're serious about doing so.
Some recent surveys suggest 2024 is the most stressful year to date regarding people's financial concerns, to say nothing of their mental health. This is where the impact of daily gratitude on stress becomes invaluable. Read on to find out why gratitude is so powerful a tonic against stress, and how to leverage it for the best effect!
What Is Stress?
"Know thy enemy," as they say. The first step to tackling a problem is to take a step back for a better look. Stress is the word we give for the uncomfortable internal friction we feel while dealing with pressures that threaten to overwhelm us. This weight is often created through cyclical thinking, denying us a reprieve while we continue to spiral.
To put it simply, stress, much like anxiety, is a kind of runaway feedback loop. The trick to stopping it dead is to notice the process for what it is and end the cycle somehow. While a little stress acts as a helpful impetus to push us in the right direction, it can also grow large enough to prevent us from doing what's necessary.
Stress management techniques usually center around the idea of quieting the mind, slowing thoughts, and bringing attention to the foreground. We each have an active and complex internal landscape and it's easy to get lost in our thoughts without ever considering the need to surface for air occasionally.
Mindfulness and Stress
Techniques involving a concerted effort to direct attention away from incessant cyclical thoughts are known most commonly as "mindfulness techniques". This collection of helpful approaches works on the simple premise that watching yourself for even a couple of minutes might be enough to glean some important information. The first thing the mindfulness initiate usually notices is how hard it is to stop thinking.
The second is how useless most of the thoughts they're having are, and how much energy they're wasting allowing them to run unchecked. Our minds are a mystery in their complexity, and we're mostly unfamiliar with how to use them efficiently. We weren't born with an owner's manual; more's the pity.
Strangely enough, this trick of learning to turn off our internal dialogue is often, despite its simplicity, incredibly effective. Mindfulness practitioners report finding it easier to bring their thoughts to rest after only a short while of practice. This suggests finding internal stillness is a skill that can be learned and something that anyone can take advantage of with a little practice.
Benefits of Gratitude
The thoughts that whirl around in our minds are often colored negatively somehow. The most insidiously persistent thoughts always seem to be dark or otherwise foreboding. It's no wonder we sometimes walk around with clouds over our heads with such an unconstructive narrative playing in the background.
Gratitude serves to balance things out nicely. We're quick to worry and stress endlessly over the uncertainties of life, but so seldomly take a moment to appreciate the positive. It's this purposefully directed change of attention that's so useful, especially when directed toward something so unmistakably positive.
If the first step is watching our thoughts, and the second is to slow and stop them, the third ought to be to change their direction before setting things in motion again. Turning to gratitude for direction is enough to jolt even the most stubborn mind out of its negative rut. Appreciation and gratitude are a balm for all ills, they're completely free, and always on hand at a moment's notice.
Gratitude Exercises
Emotional well-being practices and gratitude exercises are also particularly effective because their benefit is felt more or less immediately. It doesn't take years of meditation under a waterfall to make a positive change, only a desire to feel grateful for your life and what you have around you. The strength of the emotions conjured from gratefulness has to be felt to be believed, as their impact is significantly more pronounced than you might first expect.
Our world revolves around the idea that buying things is practically the only way to experience a wave of positivity. This belief is proof that we've bought into the idea, and have divorced ourselves from creating it for ourselves. We're so entrenched in the idea that happiness and positivity are hard to come by that the idea of experiencing them for free seems like hokum.
Don't let your skepticism stop you from giving it a go! Gratitude exercises are especially potent, and their benefit is felt immediately. To see for yourself, simply close your eyes and think of something you're glad to be true.
In a matter of moments, you'll see what we mean personally and how helpful the practice undoubtedly is.
The Impact of Daily Gratitude on Stress
Once you've felt the power of burgeoning gratitude, it's no stretch of the imagination to understand why it might be worth practicing daily.
As mentioned before, most of the damage our stress causes us is self-inflicted. Noticing destructive and unhelpful thought patterns as they begin serves to arm us against them taking hold. Once noticed, reaching for gratitude in any form will do wonders for slamming on the brakes and ending the negative cyclical loop before it begins.
Assisted Living in Manitowoc, WI
Assisted living means more than supplying three meals a day and a roof above the head of our residents. At LakeHouse Manitowoc we take mental health seriously and are proud to say that the classes and activities we provide are tailored with it in mind.
Our open approach to dealing with the rigors of life in all their forms does wonders to head them off right away, and the impact of daily gratitude on stress has a large role to play. If you'd like to learn more about our community and our methods surrounding mental health, don't hesitate to reach out! We'd love to hear from you.