The Role of Gratitude in Healing

Ever since I discovered gratitude journals a couple decades ago, I have been fascinated with the power that gratitude has to transform our lives, and I have tried to incorporate it into as many parts of my life as possible — including healing.

Let’s explore a few of the ways that gratitude can impact our healing journey and some ways that we can incorporate gratitude into our daily lives.

Gratitude Raises Our Vibrations

If you have performed any sort of mindful gratitude, you have probably experienced its wonderful power to raise our vibrations. It still amazes me how quickly my mood lifts and vibrations rise when I am practicing gratitude.

For this reason, I like to incorporate gratitude into anything that would benefit from higher vibrations (which is just about everything). For example, when I set my intentions around the new moons, I make sure to list the things that I’m grateful for before I start figuring out what my intentions will be. This helps raise my vibrations and complements the music and incense that are also doing that job.

Gratitude Makes Us More Open To Receive

By raising our vibrations, being truly grateful allows us to be more open to receive more good things that are coming our way — and it can even attract those good things. How wonderful!

In terms of healing, it allows you to be more open to receive the healing that is being offered to you, meaning that you are able to heal more during a session. More bang for your buck, simply by being grateful!

Gratitude Helps Us Pass on the Healing

Gratitude is meant to be shared and spread, and you will notice that as you become more aware of things to be grateful for (and as your vibrations rise), it will become contagious. Am I suggesting everything will be puppies and butterflies, not necessarily, but I am suggesting that you will notice a shift in those around you. As you heal yourself, you can’t help but heal others on some level.

How to be Grateful

Expressing gratitude can be different for every person and situation, but here are few ideas for how to incorporate more gratitude into your daily life:

• Keep a gratitude journal
  This is something that most people already know about, but just because it’s an oldie, doesn’t mean it’s not a goodie. It still works, and I still return to mine when I need to really focus on gratitude. I actually have two lists going in mine: one focused on my spouse, one for everything else. The reason the gratitude journal works for me is that it is almost like homework. I find myself more actively watching throughout the day to try to find things that I can include (because I don’t allow too many repeats), and I don’t want to spend too long having to think of the things.

• Set a daily reminder on your phone
  This is a similar concept to the gratitude journal, but it’s for those who want to be a little more fluid. You can create a reminder on your phone or computer for something like “Say 3 things I’m grateful for”. And maybe you don’t do this every day it comes up, but you will know the days when this is important. Tip: When you become immune to the time the alarm goes off, simply change the time by at least 3 hours.

• Express gratitude to those around you
  Make sure everything and everyone around you receives verbal gratitude from you. Try to find something that can allow you thank the people, animals, and plants around you, and when you say “thank you for [thing]” to them, focus it from your heart. And don’t forget the inanimate objects in your life. For example, thank your home for being there. Show gratitude for other objects as you use them throughout the day. You will be amazed at how your day will flow better when these objects feel love and gratitude from you.

• Thank your food before eating it
  Thank all of the food (plant and/or animal) for giving its life force to nourish yours. Think of all of the people who had to be involved with the process of getting the food to you: farmers, farmers’ families, production line people, shipping drivers, merchandisers at the grocery stores, people stocking the shelves, whoever cooked the food, etc. Send gratitude to all of them for helping to nourish you, too.

• Begin rituals/ceremonies with a list of things you’re grateful for
  When you have ritual or ceremony to do, whether it’s as simple as asking your cards a question, setting intentions, or even meditation, try adding some gratitude at the beginning. It can be as simple as thinking of something that you’re truly grateful for. As cheesy as it sounds, for me that is often my husband. I think of how grateful I am to have him in my life and feel that in my heart. Then, I continue with whatever I had in mind.

Final Thoughts

Gratitude not only helps us become more open to healing but it also healing in and of itself. There are many ways that we can incorporate gratitude into our daily lives, and given its benefits, I think it’s worth a try. With hearts filled with gratitude, let us create a brighter, more harmonious existence — one where healing energy flows freely, and the transformative impact of gratitude extends its reach to everyone.

Still Have Questions?

If you have more questions that I didn’t address here, based on your specific condition or anything else, please don’t hesitate to ask me. I’d love to see how I could be of service!