Why Practicing Gratitude Is Much Harder Than It Seems

Cultivating an ‘attitude of gratitude’ sounds easy. All you need to do is come up with some things that you’re thankful for, jot them down in your gratitude journal, and voilã, all the benefits of this magical sentiment will be yours.

These benefits include better physical and mental health, more harmonious relationships and improved self-esteem. If you believe in the Law of Attraction, expressing gratitude will bring more of the things you’re grateful for into your life.

What could be simpler than this? Even miserable people can come up with a few things in their life to feel happy about. Dedicated gratitude journal writers are not afraid to celebrate the small stuff, from the way the sunlight shines through the curtains in the morning to the tasty sandwich they had for lunch.

When you start looking at gratitude in this way, the possibilities are endless.

But if gratitude is this easy, why do some people find it so hard? I’ve come to realize that gratitude is more complicated than it seems because to truly value what you have, you must first value who you are.

Herein lies the rub.

Gratitude and Self-Acceptance

The world generally doesn’t encourage self-acceptance. In fact, the less we like ourselves…