The Thinking Habit That Changed My Life
By Leo Babauta
I remember one evening, when my life was pretty different and I was overweight and deeply in debt and a smoker and had such a hard time changing things … I wasn’t feeling too good about my life.
I felt horrible about myself, and wondered why I was stuck. I felt hopeless and helpless, and generally depressed about the state of things around me.
Then I looked up at the sky, and saw the stars set in a deep blue-black canvas. And I thought, what a miracle life is.
And I resolved to mentally list the things I had in my life that were good.
My list of good things was something like this:
I had a wonderful wife
I had 5 amazing children (now 6)
I had loving parents and siblings and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins
I wasn’t sick
I had a job
I had decent shelter and food
My family was healthy
I could see, and appreciate the beauty of the world around me
I could taste delicious food
I had great books to read
The list went on, but you get the idea. Even when things seemed horrible for me, actually I was OK. And more than that, I had some amazing blessings in my life.
That night I resolved to count my blessings more often. I resolved to be grateful for what I had, for the people in my life.
I started the habit of gratitude.
Now, this seems like a trivial and maybe trite and hokey thing to many people. I’m here to tell you that it’s not trivial, and as trite/hokey as it may seem, it changes lives.
Here’s what happ...
Source: Zen Habits - Category: Life Coaches Authors: zenhabits Tags: Habits Happiness Source Type: blogs