The Power of Gratefulness in Healing & Weight Loss: Stop the Cycle of Spiritual Stress
PART 1
The power of gratefulness – have you ever experienced that power? What a great topic with a direct connection to healing and weight loss.
In this four part series, each week’s article and video will highlight:
#1: Gratefulness isn’t a list. It’s a life.
#2: Gratefulness is at the root of all healing. Weight loss is simply a process of healing.
#3: How does gratefulness actually reset metabolism or rebuild gut health or balance hormones?
#4: How do we build a grateful life and experience these powerful results?
When I studied this topic closer and the links to physical health symptoms; I did not realize how deep gratefulness actually goes. “Let your roots grow down into Him. And let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught. And you will overflow with thanksgiving.” Thanksgiving is the result of being grounded in him by faith. Faith is built on gratefulness.
So let’s jump in.
When we think about Big Idea #1 of gratitude isn’t a list, it’s a life, here’s some contrasting statements to consider:
- Gratitude is actually who we are, not what we do.
- Gratitude is a mindset – a way of thinking, not just a list of things.
- Gratefulness motivates our decisions and actions, not a duty of do’s and don’ts. It’s the motivation behind the duty.
- Gratitude is actually faith based living not fear based living. Faith is built from gratefulness.
- Gratitude is all about position. Who we are in Christ, not about our possessions.
Let’s do a self check on gratefulness. What is your gratefulness meter? Sometimes I think, hey, I’m pretty thankful. I don’t complain a lot. I express thanks to God. I express thanks to my family.
I feel like I’m a generally thankful person.
What really does that look like in life? And as I started studying gratefulness, I realized, you know what? There’s a lot in my life and heart that is probably not aligned with truly being a grateful person.
Gratefulness Meter Checklist:
Take a Point Away from 10 for every Checkbox
- I fantasize or daydream often – Wishing for a better…. Fill in the blank
- I use people to get things – Being honest with ourselves are the relationships we have with others really just to gain something in return?
- I can be impulsive – Do we make decisions that are very quick, not based on sound judgment, not based on thinking through something, not based on taking time?
- I constantly compare myself – This is a big one, and can be an expression of ungratefulness. Something that is not quite leveling up to my expectations – I wish I looked like her, or had xyz material thing, or had her personality, etc.
- Addiction to food, love novels or movies – Any addictions to food, to love novels or movies or stories of someone else’s life can be a sign of lack of gratefulness to fill the void of fixating on what we don’t have.
- I don’t always take great care of the possessions I DO have – I’ve tried, not very successfully, sometimes, with my kids. Hey, if your room is a mess, if all of your stuff is not taken care of, that’s telling us as your parents that you’re not really that thankful for what you do have, and you definitely aren’t ready to receive anything else you are asking for!
Connecting the dots, in my own life as an adult, am I taking care of the things that God has given me, my relationships, my time, my material possessions, that’s an expression of gratefulness, my health, am I managing that well, because that is a stewardship and an act of gratefulness.
- I am unhappy most of the time – Am I happy most of the time? Do I walk around really just down? Mild depression can often be lifted through gratefulness
- I feel empty inside – Do I feel there’s a void that needs to be filled? Something is missing in your life?
- I’m busy but bored – I’ve been there, and I’m sure you have too. Where your life is full, your schedule is full, your calendar is crammed, but inside, you’re feeling really empty. I wish my life were different. That’s a lot of times a very, um, general statement and we don’t really even recognize we feel that way sometimes.
- I don’t have a purpose – Lack of purpose, lack of living out why God made you and what His plan is can be rooted in wanting something different, something bigger or more significant.There’s sometimes seasons of restlessness. Totally normal. Doesn’t mean you’re ungrateful. But if that’s a pattern of living and that you feel like you’ve struggled with for years, maybe true gratefulness is the key.
- I wish my life were different – I wish I had been experiencing different things. Whatever the case may be, it’s the envy and the drive for more that develops a continual mindset and continual thought pattern that focuses your energy on everything that you don’t have, gratefulness can turn that around.
- I feel like my needs are consistently not being met – Unmet expectations can damage us leaving us drowning in self-pity and desperation. Gratefulness is a healing balm for rising out of the pity pit.
- I can be manipulative in my relationships – If that is true for you, then chances are there is a lack of gratitude, especially towards the person that you’re manipulating. And manipulation can come in all kinds of different forms. And in any type of form, it’s unhealthy. It’s unhealthy emotionally, and it’s also unhealthy physically.
- I am living in fear right now – I fear abandonment. I fear the loss of something. I fear failure. All fears are based in lies. And when we live in fear, sometimes gratefulness opens the door to that freedom through faith.
- My faith isn’t very strong right now – I’m not really sure I can trust him is what we are saying. I’m not sure really God cares for me. All of that is rooted in ungratefulness.
TOTAL GRATEFULNESS SCORE: ______ / 10
Where are you on the meter? Stay tuned to this four part series on how you can build gratefulness in your life and its powerful connection to healing and weight loss!! Releasing the weight is literally a letting go, healing process. The power of gratefulness stops the cycle of spiritual stress as a root cause for healing and weight loss.
Understand the SPIRITUAL STRESS CYCLE and it’s connection to gratefulness!! Check out the VIDEO #1: Stopping the Spiritual Stress Cycle.