The other day, I was putting a mattress cover back on the bed of a kiddo who had peed in it the night before. This is a somewhat regular occurrence, and as I was performing the physical gymnastics required to put a fitted sheet on a bottom bunk mattress, I began to be annoyed that I was doing this yet again…annoyed that this child was still wetting the bed, annoyed that it was so hard to perform this physical feat. I could feel myself getting more and more frustrated.
Fortunately, I caught myself, and decided to practice some intentional gratitude. I thought about how grateful I am to have this child in my life and in our family. I thought about how grateful I am that I have beds to put my kids in, that there’s such a thing as waterproof mattress covers and washing machines, and that I have the physical capacity to change the sheets.
This paradigm shift completely changed my experience of this task. It didn’t change the fact that it needed to be done or that I was doing it. But my mindset did a total 180 and I was amazed and grateful again at the power of gratitude to change my perspective, attitude, and level of joy.
This was a relatively small incident. But regardless of the size of our situation or challenges, gratitude can make a significant difference.
There’s a reason all of the research on happiness out there emphasizes gratitude as one of the most powerful ways to increase happiness.
Our circumstances do not have to change in order for us to feel completely different, for us to have a profoundly different experience of those circumstances.
So give it a try — the next time you find yourself getting annoyed or frustrated, try giving some time to intentionally thinking about the things there are to be grateful for in that situation. There are some — I promise (even if they’re simply “I have the capacity to notice that I’m annoyed” or “I am able to see this as a challenge and can choose how I want to think about it”).
You’ve got this. I’d love to hear what you come up with.
Cheers,
Bethany