"And if you were to count God's favours, you would not be able to number them; most surely God is Forgiving, Merciful."
[Quran 16:18]
WHAT IS GRATITUDE?
Gratitude in its simplest form is being thankful and acknowledging your abundant blessings.
Imagine for a moment losing every single one of your 5 senses. Imagine losing complete control of all your bodily functions that we all take for granted every day. Just stop for a silent moment and think about the devastation of being helpless in the face of this enormous trial.
Now imagine, one by one, being gifted all your 5 senses and bodily functions back. How grateful do you feel? How much do you now appreciate every part of your body and how it all works together?
When asked ‘What is gratitude?’ the scholars of the past would say that true gratefulness is using the gifts Allah (swt) has given to you in a way that is pleasing to Him and to benefit humanity. So, doing good in our lives is also a form of gratitude to our Creator.
WHY BE GRATEFUL?
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”
Melody Beattie
The quote above sums up how an attitude of gratitude can completely transform your life for the better.
Living an intentional and purposeful life where we are consistently grateful for all our blessings allows us to be appreciative and think more positively about the state of our affairs.
Gratefulness will sharpen your focus on the good in your life and help readjust your perspective when you feel overwhelmed by your struggles. This clarity will then help you address your problems because putting them in perspective takes away their power to instil fear in you and keep you from progressing – it’s a win-win situation!
It’s been well established that people who practice gratitude by taking time to reflect upon the things they're thankful for, experience more positive emotions, express more compassion and kindness, sleep better, feel more alive and even have stronger immune systems.
5 WAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR GRATITUDE
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Write it down
Start your day with gratitude, by writing 3 things you're grateful for. Each day write 3 new items, ensuring you don’t repeat what you wrote the day before. Psychological research has proven that writing down what you are grateful for each day can significantly increase well-being & happiness.
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Ponder Often
Think deeply and ponder over your current blessings; from material possessions to your body, to your intellect, your family, and even down to small delicious cone of gelato you may enjoy. -
Say it out loud
Share words of thanks and create a habit of verbal affirmation that helps you realise how much good exists in your life. -
Express gratitude through action
Do good deeds out of gratefulness to your Ever-Merciful Lord, and know that you will be rewarded and attract abundance, prosperity, peace and success. -
Guide your Mind
Switch on your positive thinking mindset, the one that focuses on the good in every situation no matter how small. Guide yourself and realign your thoughts back to that positive thinking path whenever you find yourself wondering astray. – you will soon find that the positive outlook that comes with gratitude will be second nature to you, making you of those whom Allah (swt) is pleased with and promises to give more to, because of their gratefulness.
Science tells us that we are the stuff of exploded stars, left over from the galaxies around us. The atoms that make up our body could have been shared with the heart of a fallen star – and we know the stars and all of Allah’s creation glorify Allah (swt) constantly.
Allah (swt) sustains all His creation with only the expectation that we are grateful to him through our worship; yet in His mercy, He does not take from us even when we are ungrateful or forgetful.
The earth keeps spinning, we still get another heartbeat, another breath, another chance to be great; to live, to enjoy, to love.
Should we not be grateful then?
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