The life-changing effects of having an attitude of gratitude

There is always a reason to be grateful. Be creative and look around you. Find things, situations and people to be grateful for. You will enjoy this time of lockdown so much more. Let us all sharpen our tools during this time. The tool, in this case, is the attitude of gratitude.

Be a mirror of gratitude

Parents, we are mirrors that our children look into every day. We need to show them how to embrace life no matter what is happening. The attitude of gratitude cannot reside with fear in the same frame of mind at the same time. We teach our children by being grateful not fearful. Look around you and see how many things one can be grateful for. Challenge yourself and your child or children to find more things to be grateful every day. Be a mirror of gratitude for your child every day. This means you need to minimise or stop complaining. We like telling our children not to complain but they see us do it all the time. They need to see there is a change in us before we can expect to see a change in them.

The benefits of gratitude

Gratitude has many benefits. It makes you happy, for one. Try being grateful and unhappy at the same time. It does not work like that. Gratitude gives you peace because you see the things you were fearful about in the past and how they turned out. Gratitude brings harmony to your body, mind, and spirit as well as to your family. It uplifts and inspires others. People expect you to be full of doom and gloom in this time of lockdown, but when you tell them about the good in you and in your family and in your life, they are inspired and sometimes even confused. Gratitude opens doors — people love helping people who are truly grateful. Parents will rather do something for a grateful child than for an ungrateful child. Gratitude helps you to be less stressed and be more in control.

Grateful no matter what

Though we are all facing the same challenge right now like never before, being grateful will help us find perspective in this dark space we all seem to be in. Finding light in a dark place is an art that only few people have. Teach this wonderful skill to your child or children so that each child can have this art of gratitude when all this is over. This is a skill that leads your child in paths you are unable to imagine right now. No matter what is happening, whether you have control over a situation or not, when you look carefully you will always find something to be grateful for.

Gratitude helps with discipline

One cannot be angry and grateful at the same time. This simply means that your child will have fewer anger issues just by being grateful. You, as the parent have to be an example of this. Your child should see how you dissipate anger in a situation that could have caused trouble because you have a grateful attitude. Your child will want to listen to you. Children love the atmosphere of harmony. They will see that the attitude of gratitude brings about harmony in the home and this makes them happy. They will see that they contribute to keeping peace and joy in the home.

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