Change Your Attitude With Gratitude
I don’t mean to be discouraging, but life isn’t always easy. While it’s filled with beauty, joy, and countless blessings, it also comes with its fair share of challenges. It’s easy to slip into a negative mindset when things get tough—I know because I’ve been there.
In this post, I want to encourage you to shift your perspective and embrace gratitude, even in the hard moments. In other words, change your attitude with a heart full of gratitude.
In John 16:33, we read this, “In this world you will have trouble”. It doesn’t stop there, though. Read the full verse below to get the complete picture.
The beauty of this verse is its message of truth and hope. The truth is that this world will bring you trouble, but the hope is that God has overcome the world, and one day, you will be free from it. That right there is reason to give thanks.
Root Causes Of A Negative Attitude
Let’s explore some root causes of a negative attitude.
Mental & Physical Exhaustion
This is one of the biggest triggers. Everything seems worse when you are tired. The good news about this one is that it is fixable with a little more sleep and a new day.
I love the verses in Lamentations 3:22-23
A good night’s sleep and a new morning can make all the difference in the world.
The Feeling of Being Unappreciated
Is there a mother in the universe who hasn’t felt underappreciated? It’s just part of the job description. I have found myself doing dishes and grumbling under my breath because no one is helping me, and worse yet, no one appreciates me. This could surely be the cause of a bad attitude.
Overwhelm
Moms today are overwhelmed with many responsibilities. Managing your family’s schedules alone can be stressful, but then add household chores, meal planning and prepping, parenting, a job, ministry, and so much more, and this can leave mom feeling weary AND with a bad attitude.
Lack of personal time
Let me jump on my self-care soapbox for a minute. The current precipice of self-care is that it makes us feel better, and we deserve it. Essentially, it has become all about me. I want to challenge you to look at it differently.
Philippians 2:3 says, Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility, value others above yourselves.
What if you looked at self-care as filling your cup so you can pour out to others, specifically your family? What if self-care is no longer about YOU but about THEM? Them, being your family.
I’m not negating that it is important to find time for yourself, but fill it with things like time with God, gratitude, good friends, and something good for your physical health, like exercise, healthy eating, water intake, etc.
My encouragement is to fill your cup so you can pour it out to others.
Comparison
Theodore Roosevelt put it perfectly: “Comparison is the thief of joy“. I could probably stop right there because that says it all. However, social media is the primary factor in making you feel like you don’t measure up and causes you to lose joy.
You can quickly slip into a woe is me attitude and find yourself joyless.
Relationship Struggles
Conflict is not fun for anyone. When we struggle with our husband, our child, or a friend, we can very likely slip into a bad frame of mind and have a bad attitude.
There is no world in which we live where relationships aren’t challenging. We are sinful people with selfish desires.
Those are just a few aspects of our daily lives that can lead us to have a poor attitude.
Now that we have established that, let’s look at gratitude and see if we can change your attitude with gratitude.
The Bible reminds us of this in 1 Thessalonians 5:16:
Gratitude is not just an act—it’s a command. God simply says to “give thanks”. He knows that a heart of gratitude can be life-altering.
Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Gratitude can transform your life in countless ways. A consistent gratitude practice helps shift your focus from what’s missing to what’s abundant in your life.
In my post 11 Ways To Beat The Winter Blues, you will see how gratitude is one of the best ways to dig yourself out of the winter blues.
Here are some ways the practice of gratitude can have a lasting impact on your life.
Gratitude Strengthens Our Faith & Draws Us Closer to God
When we reflect on God’s faithfulness, our trust in Him grows deeper. Psalm 9:1 says, “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.”
Expressing gratitude is an act of worship. In James 1:17, we are reminded that “Every good and perfect gift is from above.”
Thanking God for who He is, all He has done for us, and all He will do for us can cause a change in mindset and help us to trust Him more.
Philippians 4:6-7 encourages us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Gratitude Improves Mental Health
Research has shown that regularly practicing gratitude helps reduce stress, anxiety, and depression, all of which are rampant in our world right now.
Gratitude encourages a mindset shift from scarcity to abundance, allowing you to experience more peace and contentment in everyday moments.
A scarcity mindset is the belief that there is never enough. In other words, I can’t have good things because so many other people do, and there is not enough for me. Most people, especially in the United States, struggle with this. So if this is you, you are not alone.
Gratitude can help you switch from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, where you trust that there is enough good to go around.
Gratitude Allows You Better Sleep
There have been seasons in my life when sleep has been hard to come by. This was due to my mind spinning with anxiety and fear. As we all know, everything seems worse in the middle of the night.
I did two things to battle those sleepless nights; one was to pray, and the other was to praise God and thank Him for all the blessings.
Altering my thoughts to gratitude instead of worry was life-changing for me. I found that it caused me to rest more easily and fall asleep more quickly.
When your mind is focused on all you have to be thankful for, your body can naturally relax and allow sleep.
Gratitude Boosts Resilience
We, as a society, have lost the ability to be resilient. There are a lot of reasons for that. Things like increased mental load, burnout, overexposure to social media, decreased exposure to hardship in early life, a decline in physical and mental toughness (Modern conveniences mean women don’t face the same physical hardships as previous generations.)
One thing I will say is that my childhood did produce resilience in me. My life growing up was a difficult one. You can read more in my About Kim page. I had no choice but to be resilient. While that life wasn’t easy, I am very thankful for it because it made me who I am today and has made me resilient.
Resilience is important because life is hard. To persevere and thrive, we must be resilient to what comes our way.
The good news is that resilience can be strengthened! Practices like gratitude and embracing challenges rather than avoiding them can help women be strong and resilient.
Gratitude Has Health Benefits
Gratitude is good for your physical body. Studies have shown that grateful people tend to have lower blood pressure, improved heart health, and even stronger immune systems.
Gratitude Overflows into All Aspects of Your Life
A grateful heart fosters a spirit of generosity and kindness. You can find joy in other people’s happiness and good fortune when you practice gratitude consistently. Your perspective becomes more other-centered than self-centered.
By consistently practicing gratitude, you naturally become more content and satisfied with your life. When you are content with your life, you are more likely to avoid jealousy and hate, thus allowing kindness and generosity to flow more freely.
Gratitude Increases Joy
By being thankful, especially to God for His provision, you will find increased joy in your life. Gratitude can bring joy because it helps shift our focus from what we lack to what we already have.
Making Gratitude a Daily Practice
How to incorporate gratitude into your everyday life:
- Start and end each day with thanksgiving. Lord, thank you for allowing me to wake up today.
- Keeping a gratitude journal. Write down three things you’re grateful for each day. Find a friend and hold each other accountable when it comes to gratitude.
- Praying with a thankful heart. Instead of focusing on what you need, start by thanking God for what He has already provided. There is an acronym I learned about praying ACTS. The A stands for adoration. Notice this is the FIRST letter. This is how God instructs us to pray in Matthew. He wants our gratitude. It honors Him.
In Conclusion
Gratitude is a powerful, God-commanded, and God-given tool that will transform your life. As you add a steady diet of gratitude into your life, you will be transformed to be more like Christ.
Our ultimate goal is to be more like Jesus. We won’t fully achieve that until we meet Him face to face, but we can work at it daily here on earth. God commands us to give thanks in all circumstances.
Gratitude is not just for when things are good. Practicing it when things are hard is not easy, but it is an act of obedience to God that we can incorporate to alter our lives for the better.
You truly can change your attitude by instituting a practice of gratitude.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.” – Psalm 107:1
Much Love, Kim 💗
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