Gratitude is Most Powerful on Difficult Days

Don’t save gratitude for your good days. Gratitude is most powerful on your difficult days.

Keep it simple. When you are going through a difficult time, think about one simple thing you are grateful for. That stops negative thinking from spiraling out of control, shifts your energy, and elevates your mood.

It doesn’t change your circumstances, but focusing on gratitude is powerful and can completely transform the way you view your situation and how you feel.

Finding Gratitude in a Cup

I discovered the power of gratitude during anticipatory grief – in 1994 when the doctors at the hospital said that there was nothing left that they could do for my fiancé, and he was going to die.

A simple cup of hazelnut coffee as I sat at his bedside after all of the visitors left is what comforted me. Simple gratitude for its predictability, when everything else was so unpredictable. The hazelnut aroma permeated his hospital room and made it seem less sterile. The warmth of the cup was like a blanket, warming me when I was frozen with fear.

Gratitude for a simple cup of hazelnut coffee during the worst days of my life got me through those days and is how I can say with certainty that gratitude is most powerful on our most difficult days. Gratitude heals.

What simple thing are you grateful for today?

Read more from Dr. DeLong on Open to Hope: https://www.opentohope.com/75654-2/

Check of Dr. DeLong’s book, FEELING Good: 35 Proven Ways to Happiness, Even During Tough Times

Dr. Peggy DeLong

Dr. Peggy DeLong is a psychologist, known as The Gratitude Psychologist. She teaches people how to harness the power of gratitude and joy to live their best lives, especially through difficult times. She does this through psychotherapy, her on-line monthly membership Feeling Good with Dr. Peggy, on-line courses, speaking engagements, books, and bracelets. Peggy is the author of I Can See Clearly Now: A Memoir about Love, Grief, and Gratitude, The Gratitude Journal: A 365 Day Gratitude Journey, and Feeling Good: 35 Proven Ways to Happiness, Even During Tough Times. She is also the owner of LOVE in a Bracelet, where she designs bracelets for coping with grief and loss, mental health, and inspiration. Peggy coordinates a weekly women’s walking group for 7 years, and she hosts women’s hiking events for spiritual growth and personal development. When she’s not focused on her businesses, you’ll find Peggy with her husband and three children in the mountains, downhill or telemark skiing, kayaking, hiking, or mountain biking.