Gratitude Exercises for People Who Cringe When They Hear About Gratitude Exercises
Trying to feel something I don’t feel never works.
But noticing how I do feel is a surprisingly satisfying habit with lots of practical applications.
Gratitude can feel bittersweet
Simmering in gratitude can be delicious, but it’s normal to spot unpleasant flavors in your emotional stew.
Their presence doesn’t mean you’re not grateful. They reveal the complexity and variability of our more magnanimous emotions.
Below are some low-key ways to acquire a more robust gratitude palate.
As you play with them, consider these four responses equally valid:
pleasant emotions
unpleasant emotions
mixed or conflicting emotions
an emotionally neutral response
The last one can be the most challenging.
Having no obvious emotional response doesn’t line up with our expectations of how gratitude is supposed to feel. Try to savor neutrality’s peacefulness.
Gratitude can be varied and subtle.
Quiet appreciation for ordinary perceptions
Take a minute or more to consider how extraordinary it is that you’re able to see, hear, touch, taste, smell, think, and feel emotions.
Engage your senses as you do this.
Kids do it spontaneously. Adults have to remember to practice.
It can be bittersweet to realize these faculties will inevitably lose their sharpness. Let this nudge up your appreciation for them as they are now.
Quiet appreciation for meaningful places
Reflecting on places loaded with personal significance calls to mind the significant challenges you’ve grown through as well as memories of unrepeatable delight.
Quiet appreciation for significant people
Taking time to think about the people you care about — and those who care about you — can evoke poignant feelings of connection, belonging, and grief.
Optionally extending the scope to include challenging people, for the invaluable lessons they inadvertantly teach us, simultaneously requires and develops courage, generosity, and resilience.
