Procrastinators can have a difficult time getting around to feeling grateful. They may be chronically stressed, perpetually depleted, constantly bemoaning their plight. Feeling grateful may just seem like a ridiculous waste of time.
I think the trick about feeling grateful is we can feel grateful no matter what time it is. Whether we are late, whether we are desperately behind, whether we feel incredibly embarrassed about our mistakes. And so, I think it makes sense for all Procrastinators, no matter how downtrodden, to learn how to experience gratitude easily.
Gratitude is a change we can create. It is not assumed that any of us will feel grateful. We generate that thought, that feeling, and it is a powerful exercise we can choose to do on a moment-to-moment basis. We can feel grateful for:
- clean, warm water
- good food
- our health
- our support
- our talents
- our opportunities
- our extra time when time is sparse
- good feelings
If you feel trapped or mired in regret, unhappiness, ambivalence, envy, or jealousy and the like, that is okay. Those are feelings that you currently own. Allow yourself, when you are able, to take a break from those engulfing feelings and break towards your experience in greater detail. Perhaps you can feel gratitude for the opportunity to feel angry, for instance, as it means you have the time and the capacity to reflect on your experiences. Perhaps you can figure out a way to accept what is happening to you. Adopt an attitude that you are not in total control and consider being grateful that you actually cannot be.
For Procrastinators, gratitude is a tremendous tool. It is a secret to using time well, without the drag of straight-up Procrastination drudgery and slowness. Gratitude lightens, makes positive, makes simple, makes doable. Practicing gratitude helps us make the most out of our time. Doing so may even make us feel like we’re expanding the amount of time available. When we make room to feel gratitude instead of and in place of anxiety, we begin to feel that time is on our side. That we are not working against time. That the time we are using is a gift to us.
I wish peace for you and yours this Thanksgiving holiday. I am grateful for this opportunity to connect with you and hopefully to be of help to you.
