Combining Mindfulness and Gratitude

One of the things that can be helpful when people feel ‘flat’ or ‘down’ is to engage in a combination of mindfulness and gratitude. Using the Big Picture mindfulness approach means being aware that each moment in the ‘now’ represents our life, and we can choose to feel grateful for the opportunity to be here having a go at being alive. To realise that each day is precious because we only have a certain number of them to experience this gift we call life.

If the Big Picture approach to mindfulness seems too hard, we can simply be mindful of where we are and what we are doing in the current moment. To experience our environment via our senses, to really be aware of what we can see around us, to really notice colours and shapes, and to be grateful for what we have, for the fact that we have eyes that can see. To be grateful for what we can hear in the moment of our life. For our taste, smell, feel and touch. If we focus on all the information we are taking in via our senses, it can be as though we’d never really noticed these things before. It invites us to feel a sense of wonder at what might normally be overlooked and considered mundane. Yet like our days, all experiences are transitory. To be grateful for the richness of what we actually have as part of our everyday life can be mood enhancing.

Dr Doreen Davy