Attitude of Gratitude Series - The Power of Gratitude in relationships
Most people live life at a frantic pace these days and it is easy to take our loved ones for granted in this situation. So, we encourage you to take a moment and give thought to all of your important relationships and the times when you were truly grateful to each of these people.
A lot of people make the mistake of assuming that their loved ones know what they are thinking or feeling. This is not a good idea and you should always let those that you love into your life more so that they always know how much they matter to you.
It is all too easy to drift through life on autopilot and stop being consciously aware of the people that really matter around you. Once your brain is programmed to conform to a specific routine then it will direct your focus to that routine and not spend your energy on anything else much.
You need to make an effort to change this pattern and become more consciously aware. Instead of constantly creating “to do” lists and being a slave to those lists it is important that you start to notice all of the nuances that you missed out on through your autopilot mind programming.
Benefits of Expressing Gratitude in your Relationships
Divorces and break ups seem to be at a record high in the modern world. On TV programs you hear one partner say that the other didn’t give them enough attention so this resulted in them leaving or worse cheating on them. Taking a partner for granted is a very dangerous thing and something that we highly recommend that you avoid doing.
When you have an increased awareness of gratitude this can really have a significant impact on your relationships. There is a lot of evidence to support that when you express gratitude to your loved ones through words of kindness, the giving of gifts and so on that you will nurture your relationship with them.
Your relationships will grow stronger when you express gratitude regularly. So now that you know this it is in your interest to understand how you can show your appreciation to the most important people in your life.
Expressing gratitude in relationships goes beyond saying “thanks”. Of course, there is nothing wrong with saying thanks to your partner or other loved ones, but they will probably expect this as the norm and expect more from you.
The secret to expressing gratitude in relationships with the spoken word is to ensure that you include your observations, how much you need the person in your life and how you feel about them. When you get this right, you will make the connection that you have with the person so much stronger.
So, what do we mean by observation? Well there are a number of things that a partner will do for you that you do not acknowledge enough. Maybe they washed the dishes or opened a door for you. By letting a loved one know that you saw this and really appreciated it can make a significant difference in your relationship.
Adding how their act of kindness made you feel is not a difficult thing to do. If they opened a door for you than just tell them that this made you feel special or whatever the feeling was. Just think about the positive impact that their action had on you and how it made you feel.
Telling people how much you need them in your life is not so easy. It can often be a challenge to acknowledge that you really need people, but of course you do need them. You are always going to be affected by the people in your life and when you can effectively tell them why you need them so much then this will improve your relationships no end.
Try not to restrict your gratitude in relationships to just the things that people do for you. Look for other opportunities to be grateful because they do exist. Think about how your partner is as a person for example. Then tell your partner that you not only appreciate what they do for you but who they are as a person as well.
If your partner is a very thoughtful person, very compassionate, very generous and so on then tell them how much you appreciate these qualities that they have. They will really appreciate this and probably respond by telling you how much they are grateful to have you in their life.