Why Students Should Learn About Mindfulness and Meditation as a Means of Increasing Happiness in High School

Introduction…

Why should we show gratitude? Is probably what you are asking yourself as you read the title. “That sounds boring!” would be your second thought and “How do you know what I’m thinking?” would be the third. But gratitude is a lot more important than most people think. We can live our entire lives without knowing how lucky we were. We could complain endlessly, without knowing how fortunate we are in the end. It is imperative that people recognize their fortunes in life. Doing so will allow people to have a more positive attitude towards life and towards the ones they love and would make them appreciate the things they have. Showing gratitude makes people more humble and overall happier towards life. But sometimes, knowing such luck can be a difficult thing to immediately think of. This is why we are proposing to all students: write gratitude letters and keep a collection of everything you are grateful for.

Expressing gratitude is to give recognition and be thankful to people that surround you in a positive way. It gives you a reflection of your relation with that person, gratitude could possibly bring positive things out into the light  instead of putting the negative in bold. It gives you a change in perspective and to acknowledge that you have people that stand behind you to support you.

The Gratitude Letter

There are multiple ways to express gratitude and our favorites involve writing letters to the people or things you appreciate. By writing these letters, you will accumulate many things you find grateful about the subject of the letter, be it your mom or your favorite game. By writing these down, you will tend to be more grateful overall to the subject. If it was a person, you may appreciate them a lot more and would realize all they’ve done for you. If it’s an object, you may appreciate owning the object more. By realizing these things, your mental health would improve and your gratitude towards small things would increase.

The Gratitude Collection…

Another form to express gratitude is by keeping a box or a journal filled with items and people who you are grateful for. This helps when you are feeling stressed or feel like no one understands you. A gratitude collection will remind you of the positives in your life and you are in charge of whatever you decide to put in it. A gratitude journal filled with pictures is also an excellent way to remind yourself of people who or things that make you happy and make you feel comfortable.  We all have someone or something close to our hearts and thoughts and something that helped me was a gratitude collection. We all have something to be grateful for, even if it’s small. Being able to recognize them it’s a fundamental part towards being happy. So the next time you receive a gift you’ve always wanted, or your parents simply took you out to eat, remember that these seemingly insignificant moments may be significant to those less fortunate. Stay grateful!