Coming to the end of January, I’m on the final few days of my own little ‘dry January’ challenge. I have to be honest, it hasn’t felt too tough to cut out the alcohol, although a steak without a large glass of red does feel wrong on so many levels!! There’s a part of me that is looking forward to that first G&T, but there’s a small part of me that’s also thinking about carrying on with the whole tee-total thing for a while longer….what is happening to me??
Often when we got without things, we almost can’t stop thinking about what we have lost or what’s missing. Like when you’re dieting and all you crave are the things that you can’t have. I posted last week about developing a greater sense of gratitude and appreciation for the good things we have; because so much of the evidence would say that gratitude is good for our health (see last week’s blog for more on that!).
One way of developing a greater sense of gratitude is to consider what life would be like without some of the things that we take for granted. Maybe that’s people; our health our homes or our job. Or, maybe at a superficial level like me, you’re now craving a long, cool G&T with all the trimmings?!
Often we don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Whether that’s a job that we didn’t like and having moved we see that the grass isn’t always greener. Or, when we have a health issue and with hindsight we see how much we’ve taken our body or our health for granted.
So, here’s a little experiment!
Imagine your life without one or a couple of the things that you really love and value.
- What would your life be like?
- What would be missing?
- What would you miss the most?
And out of all of that, what could you be grateful for? What (or even who) are you taking for granted and how could you be more appreciative of it/them?
The experts say, grateful people are happier and healthier….so it’s a no-brainer isn’t it?
So amongst a whole list of other important things in my life , I’m also going to be grateful for that first G&T on Friday! What about you? Developing a grateful attitude – one that shines a light on the good and the positives in a situation or person could be a small change in perspective that might have a HUGE impact!
Go on, give it a go….I dare you!