A few days ago a friend of mine said she was depressed. When I asked her why she feels this way she started telling me how she cannot find any more enjoyment in life and she started telling me all the things that she has to do but doesn’t want to do and all the things that went wrong in the last few years and all the things she hoped would happen but didn’t happen to her etc.

Depression is really the wrong perception about life. And I am not talking here about a serious clinical depression which is caused by chemical imbalances of the brain and must be treated with medications. I am talking about depression which affects a lot more people (it also did me at some point) and begins when we continuously focus only on the so-called “bad stuff” that is happening to us. We just ignore the good stuff, isolate “the bad” stuff and then focus on that over and over again. Before we know it we are depressed. So depression is not just something that comes about. It’s really something we create. And if it something we create then we can also decreate it.

A powerful way to do that is just by being grateful for the things we already have in our life. Gratitude is such a powerful feeling of appreciation. And residing in that feeling literally starts to change our physiology. When we do that we are only halfway there. The second part is to be also grateful for the challenging moments that have happened or are happening in our lives. It’s important to be grateful for both supportive and challenging moments. But the problem begins when we welcome the supportive moments in our life and try to push away the challenging aka. the painful ones. When we do that we become a mentally split individual because we except only some parts of ourselves and not the whole.

I later on shared the list of 30 things I am grateful for in my life with my friend and I want to share that same list here with you. For some people many of the things listed would not seem like much but I am truly and deeply grateful for each and every one of them. And even if I lose 10 of those things tomorrow I still have 20 left and that is a lot for me. They are not listed in any special order.

I am grateful:
1. for the peace in my life.
2. for the quality clothes that I wear.
3. that I have enough and quality food to eat.
4. that all the knowledge is freely and easily available in this day and age.
5. that I can share my knowledge and experiences with others.
6. that I have enough time in the day to do everything that is of the highest value for me.
7. that I have enough money for everything I need and want to do.
8. that my family is healthy.
9. that I can provide my children with everything they truly need.
10. for the heartbreaks that opened me as a human being.
11. that I am surrounded by peaceful and content people.
12. for the disappointments which were the signs that something needed to change.
13. that I am able and willing to grow as a human being every day.
14. to have a beautiful, smart and caring partner.
15. to have found my purpose in life.
16. to be close and enjoy the elements of nature (sun, water, air, earth).
17. to have a home that suits all of my needs.
18. to feel healthy and strong physically as well as mentally.
19. to have friends with great character.
20. for the challenges pushing me to my absolute limit which help me expand.
21. to be mobile, have a good car and get wherever I want.
22. for the depressing moments which make me more real.
23. to be able and willing to give more of myself.
24. that my parents are still alive and healthy.
25. to live in an advanced country and continent.
26. to be able to enjoy in the small stuff.
27. to have been born in one of the greatest time in history.
28. for the painful moments that make me tougher and stronger.
29. for the freedom to be who I am and being appreciated for that.
30. for my perception of myself and the world.

I would urge you to write something like that and look at it every day or at least when you think that not everything is going your way. It’s important not just to be thankful or express gratitude by saying: “Yes I am grateful for what I have.” You don’t need to say or think you are grateful. The important thing is to really feel the feeling of gratitude. To feel you are surrounded by everything you truly need at this exact moment.

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