When in danger or stressful situation, we experience an adrenaline rush; gaining almost supernatural abilities. We witness ourselves going beyond our ‘believed’ capacities and deliver extraordinary results in that time-span. It’s just as good as gaining the ‘spider-sense’ from Spiderman series or ‘Haki’ from the anime ‘One-Piece’.
But does it last forever?
Nope.
Why?
It is not meant to. That’s why.
It’s almost as if a cheat day or even better, a cheat moment given by the body to go beyond limitations.
Similarly after watching an inspirational video or reading an account of a tough journey endured by a successful person tends to get us into the action; however only for a short duration. And just like the aftermath of an adrenaline rush, the urge, the policy of ‘no compromise’ starts waning or at times simply the energy levels get drained!
You start yawning, get lenient and ‘discover’ distractions to get yourself involved into. You scramble to check your emails, the Facebook notifications, Instagram stories & YouTube saga – cats to aircraft investigations; resulting in hours lost doing all sorts of work you never intended to do.
Then the clouds of regret start gathering. They grow heavier and you start feeling disgusted, often fretting about it. A perception that says ‘this is you and that’s all you’re capable of’ makes way inside the turbulent mind, disintegrating; breaking down in pieces and going down in a spiral.
Been there? Signs of being a human.
Adrenaline converts us into a superhuman for a few moments so that one gets a better chance of salvaging oneself from the protruding danger. Similarly, your brain can work intensely only for some minutes or at most an hour, thereafter it needs a good break. All your idols, be it a singer, MMA fighter or a President; have definitely faced this situation time and time again.
But what made them reach where they are today? Why were they absolutely convinced and confident in their actions?
The answer is GRATITUDE. The secret ingredient!
Confused? Hold on a minute. Let’s cogently decode this mystery.
Most of us are already aware that the greats possess certain habits and they consistently execute them. To a greater extent, we do identify the habits that have the potential to mould one into a better person. But consistency in executing them? That’s exactly where the real struggle begins.
And when we start struggling that’s when we simultaneously fret about it. We regret our actions and despise ourselves. This is when the real failure hits ya…
Most of us either brutally criticize ourselves and try harder or decide to never again entertain the thought of executing an activity, declaring ‘It was never meant for me’!
To understand the crucial role of gratitude let’s compare it with something. Oh, we humans love comparisons, don’t we?
Suppose you are driving a car for an extended period of time, the engine gets overheated. In such a case, would you just dump the car somewhere? Or would you accelerate even further on the already overheated engine?
None. Right? Instead, you’d give your car a break to let it cool down.
Moreover, engines have a heck load of moving and vibrating parts inside, where the temperatures are extremely high. These moving parts can continue to work as expected only if they are lubricated. And over a period of time, dust, debris & dirt from the surroundings & inside the engine contaminates & coagulates the oil. Hence needs to be replaced from time to time.
Similarly, an even more complex machine; the brain, faces similar circumstances. A continuous exchange of thoughts, expectations, desires, outputs & responses; all simultaneously tend to heat up the brain in a short span of time. Just like an overheated engine, it requires a temporary but immediate shutdown.
We, humans, are lucky enough to have an automated indicator of this overheating. After several minutes of concentration, we begin yawning or start feeling the urge to change in the activity. Carrying on with the same activity with this mindset results in reduced efficiency and increased frustration.
Moreover, repeated cycles of such stresses on a daily basis results in contamination and coagulation of your thoughts. They get confined to a particular set of prejudices and assumptions. They badly need a dosage of fresh oil!
It’s this time when gratitude can step in if allowed to.
The gratitude of rewarding your brain with a break after addressing the signals of being tired. Also much like the lubricating engine oil, a sense of gratitude keeps our mind safe from being coagulated.
You must be wondering, “Gratitude is fine. But how does it exactly keep us motivated on the path we intend to?”
Well, if habits are going to determine your success; it clearly indicates that you’d want to develop them and keep executing them in the long run. You will be able to do so only when you have faith in yourself i.e. whatever you possess is enough to get what you desire. The reactions such as trying in a frustrated, vigorous manner until the point of burnout where one starts disintegrating or simply quitting; both are clear indications of a lack of faith in one’s abilities.
To continue having this faith, you need to have the gratitude of all that you’ve had and you still have!
For bad days, limitations and unforeseen circumstances are there to stay!
Practising gratitude is of ultimate significance, especially on days when you suffer from an odd cramp, a day when a deal gets off the hook or failing in an interview or an exam. For the gratitude helps you maintain the faith, and thus you don’t go spiralling down but instead back yourself for the next day. Resulting in you neither pushing the pedal too hard nor breaking the habit!
HOW TO PRACTICE GRATITUDE ON HARD DAYS
Practising gratitude on odd days can be a challenging task. It seems one of those activities that sounds good to hear but improbable to carry out.
But it isn’t. That’s just the psychological inertia holding you back.
In case you want an exact method, here is a 4 step procedure to practice gratitude:
1. Gratitude for Health: Start with your body. If you have all the body parts functioning as they should, be grateful for it. Consider any body part, say your eyes. They allow you to watch and enjoy the colourful scenes every single day. Now imagine your life without them. Everything that you’d miss out without them. Talk to your eyes. Let them know, that you are thankful and don’t take them for granted.
2. Gratitude for Relationships: If you have been rocked by the loss of a loved one or any relationship has ended beyond your control, talk with your memories. Let your memory know that the only reason it affected you so much is that you had the privilege of being close enough to them. Cherish that privilege. Be thankful to all the relations you currently possess, be it with your friends, colleagues or parents, who have made your life better even with slightest of help.
3. Write: Grab a piece of paper or your personal diary. Write about a person or an incident, where you really appreciated or felt grateful for having them in your lifetime. If you want to keep it with yourself that’s alright. You can post this note or email it to that person so as to experience a heightened sense of gratitude.
4. Five good things of the day: Recollect the events of the day. No matter how bad the day seemed at a first glance, drive deep into the small events that took place and you probably didn’t notice. It could be as small as having your food on time or boarding the train safely or as big as being alive, cherishing the gift of life!
