Be Your Own Life Coach Series: Have Gratitude Regardless Game

This may not apply to you, but if you have ever started your day not being thankful because of all of the negative turn of events, this entry may give you a different perspective. You know those days. The morning doesn’t go as planned. For some reason, the alarm clock didn’t ring, so you overslept for your 10:00 a.m. class, you forgot the carton of milk for your morning’s ‘pick me up’ breakfast, and then you receive a text that someone has befriended you. As your day begins to drag, your complaints intensify. While stuck in traffic, you constantly berate yourself for being late yet again for your internship or that dreaded job interview. Somehow, this is the day you just happen to run into every slow, negative person in the entire world on the roadway. Does this sound like anyone you know? Of course, all of us have been there at some point in our lives when there seems like nothing to be grateful for; where the debts seems high/the income stream is low, tried and true friends become our enemies, or things are not going our way in general. These unthankful thoughts left unchecked often lead to anger, tears, or self-helplessness.

As bad as things seem for the present or imagining that your life couldn’t get any worse, taking a moment to think about any positives can quickly interrupt this negative downward. This mental mind game is called ‘the have gratitude regardless game,’ and it is played like this. Decide that you are not going to tolerate this flood of negative, corrosive thoughts into your mind. This is the first step. Then, begin to say or to write down all of the things you are thankful for in your life. If you are having trouble recalling fond memories in the present, enlist the help of a friend or a parent. Remember any event, person, or thing that you can think about in your past, like a supportive teacher or a friendly act of a perfect stranger will work. Recall how you felt special being loved and cared for by this person. If all of these attempts at playing the gratitude game fail, thinking about having the basics like clean air, drinking water, or a warm, place to sleep at night will produce phenomenal results as well. Miraculously, as you are grateful regardless, your perspective begins to shift, and the negative thoughts give way to all the good things in your life.