Mindfulness

Physical Health And Gratitude

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Physical health is the unsung hero of human life. When we have it we tend to take it for granted, the state of affairs is simply how things are and how they’re supposed to be, end of story. Yet when the slightest thing goes wrong with our bodies we can hardly think of anything else. We curse our situations, hoping everything will sort itself out so that we can get back to the business of living.

Therefore shining the light of mindfulness on our physical health, when we do have it, is an extraordinarily simple and effective way to increase gratitude in our daily lives. It’s the kind of gratitude that we can literally feel in our bones, the kind we can access in the moment to increase positivity even if many of our material aspirations have not yet come to fruition.

The reality is that physical health, along with mental health of course, trumps all of those material considerations, blows them out of the water really. Most people who are sick and aren’t going to get better would trade all of their possessions in a heartbeat to get their health back.

When we make the effort to bring that physical health into our conscious awareness we can’t help but feel profound gratitude for the gift we’ve been given, for the winning ticket we didn’t even notice we had. It’s in our nature to grow old, get sick, and die. While this insight might sound macabre it spurs appreciation for our health while we have it. It should be a shining orb of gratitude, not simply a stepping stone for other more important things.