You’ve probably heard your mom tell you a million times that you need to be grateful. I know that growing up, I would get so annoyed with my parents every time they would tell me this, and I would get upset about silly things. I remember thinking, “How the heck am I supposed to be grateful with the fifteen Barbies I already have when the brand new Swan Lake doll just got to Target?! Like hello, Mom and Dad I must have that!!!!” But my parents would simply say “Aubrey you need to be grateful for what you already have.” And that simple saying is something that has stuck with me, it’s ingrained into my brain. Gratitude is so powerful. It can change things in an instant. But gratitude goes beyond just materialistic things, it’s honestly a mindset.
Fun fact: gratitude and anxiety cannot co-exist, it's been scientifically proven. This is because of how our brains operate, the brain can’t focus on positive and negative emotions at the same time.
As I said, gratitude is powerful and that’s backed by science!!! And obviously I’m not a psychologist but this is all what I have learned from the Bible, personal experience, and learning from certified psychologists! To continue, when we choose to be grateful it stems into every part of our lives. The Bible has so much to say about this that it mentions the Greek word for gratitude around 157 times. One of my favorite verses is Psalm 118:29 “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever.” It’s so simple but yet so powerful. Another verse that I absolutely love is Psalm 118:24 “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Again so simple but so powerful. I used to wake up and immediately feel anxious because of things I had to do or a crazy busy day ahead of me but this verse has completely changed my mindset. Instead of running around all day trying to do all the things, I learned to simply just be grateful for another day from the Lord. I remember on the first day of my internship this summer I was so scared. Like I was soooooo nervous y’all and I was second guessing myself and thinking of all the things that could go wrong so called my parents before I left to get a pep talk and my dad said “Just be thankful for the opportunity and that God has you exactly where you need to be.” Literal mental game changer let me tell y’all. The minute I stopped focusing on all the things that could go wrong and started focusing on all that God has done I wasn’t nervous anymore, I felt confident and excited and I was able to walk into that first day feeling good because I knew God was right beside me and I was so thankful for that. See, gratitude literally gives us a 180 perspective on our current situations and stresses.
Psalm 107:1 says “Start each day with a grateful heart.” If you have ever taken a yoga class you’ll know that they constantly talk about gratitude and even take moments of mindfulness to practice this. The yogis are soooooo close to practicing what the Bible teaches us about being thankful, the only part they’re missing is Jesus. But seriously taking a moment of mindfulness will actually turn your day around. If you choose to focus your mind on God and all that He is doing in your life, you will have a good day. It’s impossible for negative emotions such as anxiousness, sadness, and anger to co-exist with gratitude as stated earlier. This also falls under the renewal of your mind, Romans 12:2 “Do not conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” If you started practicing “mindfulness” you would start to see a change in your perspective and it would be a positive change. Mindfulness doesn’t have to be a weird hippie guru thing where you sit criss-cross applesauce with your hands in the heart center. For me a moment of mindfulness is when I start to feel anxious and my mind starts to race, I pause and choose to turn my thoughts to the Lord and start thanking Him and listing out all that He has done. Over time these “positive” thoughts have started to become automatic and this has turned into a habit. Now obviously I still get worked up about things but I can quickly and efficiently combat that and continue to walk in the Lord’s joy. Psychology and the Bible go hand in hand (duh because God created us and that would include our brains!!!) But so many psychologists have started to uncover truths about having gratitude and how it literally heals our brains. One of my favorite psychologists is Doctor Amen, and he talks about killing ANTS (automatic negative thoughts) but this is basically what I’m talking about when I say replace your anxious thoughts with grateful ones. And this goes right along with renewing your mind and focusing it on the Lord like in Romans 12:2.
This also applies to things that we don’t always feel like doing. Is studying for that test in class you probably won’t ever use in real life going to be super fun? Um no obviously not, but complaining and having a negative attitude the whole time probably won’t help you get the grade you want. If instead you flipped your mindset and thought about what a blessing it is that you even have the opportunity to get a degree then you’ll probably do much better. When I was serving on chapter leadership for my sorority our team was having a really bad week one time. The community relations team was on its last straw to say the least and I was irritated and burnt out. But my sweet and perfect friend Payten Orlow looked at us and said “Remember we GET to do this” and that hit me hard. Instead of complaining we could be thankful for the opportunity to serve our friends. Once again a 180. Gratitude is so powerful.
If you choose to wake up each day and just say “Thank you Lord for another day” it’s most likely going to be a fabulous day. Even when things seem like they are falling apart, stop and think about all that God has already worked out in the past and be thankful that He is in control of it all. This applies to things in the future that you are anxious about, you can stop worrying and be thankful that God has already gone before you and future it all and out and it’s going to be GOOD because that’s who He is. See? No need to worry! Gratitude is truly essential and it points us to God’s love and peace and fills us up to the brim with His joy!
Doctor Amen: https://www.amenclinics.com