I embraced gratitude after reading that gratitude is beneficial for one’s mental and spiritual health. However, I never experienced the benefits of gratitude even after practicing it for a while.

It then dawned on me that I used the wrong gratitude formula after reading Joe Vitale’s book, The Secret Prayer. In the book, Joe Vitale provides an amazing gratitude formula that enabled me to experience all the benefits of gratitude.

According to Joe Vitale, we must practice gratitude by being thankful for all the small things in our lives. He thus provided the following example of a gratitude prayer for a small pottery bowl:

‘Thank you, bowl, for being in my life and for being present in this corner of my desk to brighten and beautify this corner of my life. I am so deeply appreciative of your rich red, which reminds me of manifestation and the root chakra. I appreciate your red color, beautiful little pottery bowl. Thank you for reminding me how connected to the earth we are as I think about the clay, which the potter utilized to mold and shape you, beautiful pottery bowl (Joe Vitale, The Secret Prayer).’

This gratitude prayer reminded me about the many small things that I took for granted even though they helped me in my daily life. For this reason, I created gratitude prayers for my laptop, spoon, chair, table, cup, shoes, bed, mattress, and every small thing I had.

For instance, I thanked my laptop for enabling me to conduct internet research and post articles. Primarily, I thanked it for enabling me to make money from home. Besides this, I thanked my mattress for enabling me to sleep comfortably, and for reminding me that some people sleep on a cold floor.

The gratitude prayers for my laptop, mattress and all other small things made me realize that I always take my blessings for granted. I realized how foolish I was not to notice that I am blessed with the little things I need to live a comfortable life.

You must also try this gratitude formula and you’ll be amazed by how it will make you a positive and happy person. Create a gratitude prayer for everything that makes you happy or comfortable.  By doing this, you’ll realize that you are always blessed even in hard times because you never lack the small but important things. You seldom lack food to eat, clothes to wear, a bed to sleep, a phone to communicate with your loved ones, and many other things.

Peace be with you.

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We all want to be happy because happiness is a wonderful emotion. However, we seldom find happiness because we constantly do things that steal our happiness. Some people are conscious of these things, while most of us aren’t.

This article strives to increase your happiness levels by listing the seven major things we must stop doing if we want to be happier.

1.Living Up to the Society’s Expectations

We love living up to the society’s expectations, and we thus become unhappy when we are in a position that prevents us from aligning with what the society wants. Besides, living up to the society’s expectations makes us unhappy because it prevents us from being authentic.

2.Overanalyzing the Future

Overanalyzing the future by trying to pinpoint all possibilities steals our happiness because it results in anxiety. It makes us constantly worry about the things that can go wrong, even when they are beyond our control.

3.Wanting What Others Have

Most of us are addicted to wanting what celebrities, politicians and our Facebook friends have. We think we’ll live happier lives if we obtain what these folks have. Little do we know that wanting what others have causes unhappiness because it results in envy and makes us feel inadequate. 

4.Watching the News

The News makes us over-focus on the negative part of life by showing us how other people are suffering, and it usually results in us worrying about things that are beyond our circle of influence.

5.Forcing People to Behave the Way We Want

We become frustrated when we force people to behave the way we want because we can’t control their environment, thoughts, and everything that affects their behavior. I stopped forcing my friends and siblings to behave the way I want, and I strived to accept their behavior after realizing that my efforts often resulted in anger and disappointment, which eventually made me unhappy.

6.Identifying With Our Material Possessions

Identifying our worth with our material possessions leads to sadness when we lose them. Moreover, it results in us constantly worrying about losing our possessions and how we’ll replace them.

7.Holding Grudges

‘Anger, resentment, and hatred are poisons that you drink, and you expect somebody else to die.’ –Sadhguru, Indian Mystic

Holding a grudge against someone makes us unhappy because it leads to negative emotions such as anger, hate, jealousy, and resentment. Furthermore, it makes us dwell on bad feelings or the events that led to the grudge. Also, it prevents us from enjoying the present moment by making us focus on how we’ll get back at those who wronged us.

Conclusion

The universe provided us with everything we need to be happy. However, we sabotage our happiness by doing the above things. We must, therefore, stop doing them if we want to be happy.

THE END

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