Gratitude posts

[Ffm48]

Hi @Former-Member, I quite agree with you; imho listing all the things you're grateful for isn't going to "cure" depression. Nevertheless, my psych suggested I ought to write one thing down I' grateful for. I did it to please him; I didn't see the point. I persevered. In time it became a habit. For me thinking of things I'm grateful for became a gauge of how I had changed in my attitude , how my life had changed with the therapy, how my life had changed post abuse.

As I said in my previous post, I'm grateful for the most ridiculous things. So happy and grateful just to see the washing on the washing line - I wasn't allowed to have one. I'm grateful for the clothes I bought for myself - another thing I was never allowed to do. I could go on and on and I won't now.

What thinking of those things means to me and what I do like to say is that it is a sign of hope. It shows me, that change can be made at any time in life. A friend intervened when I suffered from PTSD, panic attacks, and major depression about to open the door to oblilvion. Today, four years later listing these things I'm grateful for is like listing the reasons for living and with it, it tells me all the work to fight PTSD and depression is worth it.

No, as far as I'm concerned it doesn't "cure" depression, but it shows me that the fight is worth it. Not sure, whether I'm making sense ... all perfectly subjective, of course.

[Faith-and-Hope]

@Former-Member .... 😊💕

You realise now I have to find out where to get some green tea Oreo's from .....

And then I will be able to tell you whether I am grateful for having tried them .... lol ....

I agree @Ffm48 ..... I believe gratefulness is a form of mindfulness ..... it can help ground us in the moment ..... and it helps to create something of an offset for negative circumstances / feelings / reactions .... stabilising as much as possible to help prevent a negative spiral .... or even to help draw us out of a negative spiral if it is already underway .....

[Former-Member]

@5-HT,  makes sense to me, really liked what you said how a 'gratitude list is like a list of "reasons for living" I struggle trying to work out why I'm still, depressive clouds hide the good stuff from us - so making a conscious effort to find them is something you've inspired me to put in my bedtime routine, thanks.
Hi @Faith-and-Hope, @Ffm48 💜💛💜

[Faith-and-Hope]

Hi @Former-Member .... 😊💜

[Former-Member]

Hi everyone,
As per usual, you're replies have changed the way I think about the matter.
I was angry at this idea proffered to me at multiple times that it would be a panacea for curing my mental illness. And when I'm depressed, nothing, nothing, works to shift my mood.
But I'd never thought of it as being a 'reasons to keep on living'. I can see how this could be a massive help. I just enjoy acknowledging it when things go well and I guess that is in part the same thing. Reminding myself about all the good (little) things in life. It certainly helps boost my mood when 'not depressed/massively stressed' as I am now. And I can see how it could do a lot more. 😊

[Faith-and-Hope]

It may have an accumulative effect in terms of helping to stabilise mood generally @Former-Member, rather than a magic wand effect, which some people may have presented it to you as.

[Ffm48]

Absolutely @Faith-and-Hope, @Former-Member. There is no magic wand, but there are magic people - a rare species, but they are there. I've been very lucky to have been found by one. I don't do lists as such any more. It's the little things that crop up during the day that make me smile and I think about what has made me smile. Then I realise there is much to smile about, starting with the underwear I lay out to put on after the shower ... so different now that I have bought it myself, today the rain - heaven sent for my garden, being able to enjoy my first coffee.

For me the down side is that I don't notice when I slip into depression ... I notice it when I have already hidden away for weeks ... summer holidays when there is a break in activities is really a danger tim for me. Unfortunately, the angelversary of my firstborn is just before Christmas and that has thrown me every time. I'm now thinking about what routine to get into to carry me through that time. 

[Faith-and-Hope]

Thank you for sharing that @Ffm48 .... ❤️💕 .... perhaps self-pampering and gratitude belong together in approaching the more difficult times of year ... not as an antidote but as a panacea.

[Glorianna]

Hello @utopia thank you for the suggestion. This thread brightens my day. Gratitude, I hold for human discourse, nature, and teachers. (There's an Australian artist called Lenka with an album 'The Bright Side' which lifts my mood but is difficult to find at stores)

Glorianna

[NotLabelDefined]

Hi @Glorianna,

heres a link to Lenka, The Bright Side on you tube 🙂 it will open in a new window