Zoom out.
I learned about the 10,000 ft approach when I was living in Dallas, working for an architecture firm. The idea is, when you're too close to something, when you are really IN IT, it can be hard to see out. Gratitude can be this way - sometimes we forget about the amazing life that we are living because we are in it, every day, every night. Sometimes we just need a little nudge, a reminder to step back and give thanks for the things (even tiny ones - petting a cat, or noticing a pretty flower) that make our day great. It seems overwhelming at first, or maybe even cheesy - and there is evidence that it works!
"Expressing and experiencing gratitude is an important part of any spiritual practice. It opens the heart and activates positive emotional centers in the brain. Regular practice of gratitude can change the way our brain neurons fire into more positive automatic patterns. The positive emotions we evoke can smooth, destress, and broaden our thinking patterns so we develop a larger and more expansive view of our lives. Gratitude is an emotion of connectedness, which reminds us we are part of a larger universe with all living things."
- Melanie Greeberg, Psychologist
You can try it out this week - You might even start to see the silver lining in the things that "go wrong" or you don't want to do - it's a practice, just like anything else. The thing that we practice is the thing we will get good at :)