31 Journal Prompts For When Gratitude Is Hard

Gratitude doesn’t change the scenery. It merely washes clean the glass you look through so you can clearly see the colours. Richelle E. Goodrich

2019 didn’t start the way I planned.  It was certainly difficult to see any colour other than grey.

Gratitude doesn’t seem to fit with pain, suffering and fear.

When you’re struggling and survival mode, it doesn’t feel as if there’s space to look beyond what’s necessary to keep you going.  Life isn’t easy sometimes, and in those moments it feels as if it’s working against you, not for you.

The feeling is one of resentment, not gratitude.

Forced Gratitude

If that’s not enough, the unhealthy narcissistic person in your life is unlikely to express gratitude for the things that you do.  Instead, they feel entitled to receive appreciation, but don’t expect to and rarely appreciate you.  All too often the focus is on the negative, on those things that you haven’t done or the things they perceive as missing.  This only leaves you feeling not good enough, deflated and taken for granted.

So for you, expressing gratitude feels inauthentic, serving as a means to boost your partner’s already inflated ego.  It feels icky and manipulative.  That’s because given in this way it is. Gratitude becomes a way of avoiding punishment, keeping on the right side of your partner and keeping your anxiety at bay.

Why would you want to be encouraged to do more of that?

But this isn’t what gratitude is really about. That’s a distorted version.

So What Is Gratitude?

Gratitude is about heartfelt appreciation, presence and kindness.

Author Melodie Beattie says:

Gratitude makes things right and unlocks the fullness of life.

It’s actually in our moments of disappointment, pain or merely bad days that gratitude can be most helpful.

Changing The Landscape

That’s because people who regularly practice gratitude experience more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and generally feel healthier.

Gratitude helps you focus on what’s good and on what’s working rather than what’s not.

When you do this, you’ll open to a whole new world that you didn’t realise there. With that expanded vision, you’ll notice a full range of things that you can be joyful and thankful for even when things feel bad.

This isn’t about ignoring or minimising your pain of an abusive relationship.  Gratitude reconnects you with your full range of feelings, and there is more to your life than the experience of control and abuse.

The Power of Now

Instead of worrying about the future, gratitude grounds you in the here and now. And the truth is that you can’t change what’s happened. That’s the past. But when you are present to the good things in your life, you train your brain to look for the positives, and you will then notice them more often even in the smallest things that you may have taken for granted before.

Your problems won’t disappear, but you will feel more resourced to see them clearly for what they are and do what is necessary to manage them. Painful situations turn into important and beneficial lessons. Problems turn into gifts.

And, there is so much to be grateful for.