Why Does Gratitude Feel So Hard Now?

Today, we're diving into the power of gratitude and how it can totally flip the script on your holiday stress. Feeling tired and distracted? Why Does Gratitude Feel So Hard Now? You're not alone, but we’ve got the remedy! Practicing gratitude doesn’t just make you feel good; it actually rewires your brain, lowers stress, and strengthens your relationships. As we wrap up the month, let’s hit that reset button and refocus on what really matters. Get ready for some solid tips on how to embrace a grateful mindset and finish strong. Trust me, it’s gonna be a game changer!

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Today's discussion kicks off with a listener question about feeling worn out and distracted as the holiday season wraps up. Ralph dives into the importance of gratitude, suggesting that it not only helps us feel good but can actually rewire our brains. Citing a recent article, he emphasizes how gratitude can lower stress hormones, enhance sleep, and strengthen relationships. He shares from personal experience how practicing gratitude helped him through tough financial times, urging listeners to adopt a grateful mindset even when life gets heavy. Ralph challenges listeners to write down three things they're grateful for each day, promoting a daily practice that can shift perspectives from scarcity to abundance. He wraps up with a call to action: end the month on a positive note with gratitude, and set the tone for joy as December rolls in.

Takeaways:

• Gratitude can literally rewire our brains, lowering stress and improving sleep. How cool is that?
• If you're feeling drained, gratitude is your ticket to hitting the reset button this holiday season.
• Writing down three blessings daily can change your mindset and improve your overall mood. Trust me, it works!
• Living in gratitude not only helps us appreciate what we have but also strengthens our relationships with others. It's a win-win!
• Start each day with thanks and watch how it shifts your perspective from pressure to praise. It's like magic!
• Remember, gratitude is worship; it shows trust in God through all life's ups and downs.

Links referenced in this episode:

• financiallyconfidentchristian.com
• financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join

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Episode Transcript

(00:28):
I want to start with today'slistener question. Ralph, by the
end of the holiday season, Iusually feel tired and distracted.
How can I refocus on gratitudeand finish the month with the right
mindset? What a great questiontoday. And listen, we found this
recent article in the Gazettereminds us that practicing gratitude
doesn't just feel good. Waitto hear this. It literally rewires

(00:48):
our brain. They found that itlowers stress hormones, it improves
sleep, and it strengthensrelationships. Well, I don't know
about you, but that soundspretty good, doesn't it? So if you're
feeling drained or distractedas we close out the month, today's
your invitation to hit thereset button with gratitude. Because
here's the thing I want you toknow. Gratitude doesn't come naturally
when we're exhausted. Whenwe're tired, it's hard to find it.

(01:10):
But it's the key that reallyunlocks peace. Because here's the
truth. A grateful heart resetseverything. So let's talk about how
to refocus on gratitude. Let'scover that on today's show. This
is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame withconfidence. Welcome to the show,

(01:34):
everyone. I'm Ralph. My goalevery day as I record this show is
to help you break that cycleof financial shame and do it with
confidence. And we'recontinuing on our series of finding
joy without going broke overthe holidays. And I hope you've been
listening. If you missed anyof the episodes, you can check them
all out at our website. That'sfinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
listen, I've been doing thisfor a long time and I've seen people

(01:54):
in my own life when they livein gratitude, it completely breaks
that anxiety. I'm telling youright now, personally, gratitude
has carried me when money wastight and life felt so heavy. It
was so much, so much going on.But man, when I re challenged myself,
this is what I did. Ichallenged myself. I said, you know
what, Ralph? I remember goingthrough a particular tough season
of my life. Felt likeeverything was going wrong. And I

(02:17):
started to think, you knowwhat, I got to change my mind. I'm
going to talk a lot aboutmindset change today. But I said,
I'm going to do somethingdifferent. I decided to do is I'm
going to write down threeblessings every day for a month.
That was my goal. Every daywhen I get up, out, before my feet
even hit the floor in themorning, I had a little pad of paper
next to my bed, and I wrotedown three blessings that I was grateful
for every day. And I got to behonest, when I first started, I was

(02:39):
like, well, this is a sillyexercise, but, man, I noticed my
heart started to change.Listen, my bank account hadn't changed.
It wasn't about finances, buteverything in my heart had changed.
Which is why I love this quotefrom Pastor Charles Stanley. He said,
thanksgiving is not a day.It's a way of life. And that's something
I think we all can embracetoday. We all think about Thanksgiving

(03:02):
or the beautiful turkey andthe family, but that's just a day.
But living truly inThanksgiving is a way of life. And
that's what we really want tofocus on today. So let's answer this
question today right from thelistener. How can I refocus on gratitude
and finish the month with theright mindset? First thing, I'm going
to encourage you to do like Idid. It's all about changing your

(03:23):
perspective. See, gratituderedirects your attention, what you
lack to what God's alreadyprovided. Think of all we already
have. We are one of the mostabundant times in culture and times
in history. Right now we haveso much, and there's so much for
us to be grateful for in hisprovision. Now, listen, God never
said he's going to make uscomfortable, but what he did say

(03:45):
is he would give us provision.So here's the thing I'm going to
tell you. Stop comparingyourself on social media. Like, here
goes Ralph again, rantingabout social media. But it puts you
in the wrong perspective. Ifound myself in that same perspective
just this week, and I wasscrolling through, I think it was
TikTok. And then I startedcomparing myself again. I'm like,
wait a second, Ralph, that'snot living in gratitude. Look at

(04:07):
all the Lord has already givenme. I don't need those other things.
That. That's not my race.That's not my lane. So start there.
Shift your perspective. Secondthing I'm going to encourage you
to do is live in praise overpressure. Start every day with thanks.
Because, listen, when thatpressure loses its power, that's
when you'll really see achange in this. You got to remember

(04:27):
who's in control, rewiringyour brain. Like the news article
said, when we lived in thatthankfulness, when we lived in that
gratitude, what do we do? Weslept better. We got more rest. We
built stronger relationships,we had less anxiety, less depression.
When we really focused onpraise and let that pressure just
go. Remember as a kid, myGrandmother used to cook with a pressure

(04:49):
cooker. I don't know ifanybody ever used one of those. And
I remember she used to makethese string beans. And string beans
were great. But she would takethis pressure cooker and she would
seal it super tight. And, man,I'll tell you what, when she finally
reduced that pressure, man, itwas. Was a relief. I'm encourage
you to do the same thing. Letthat pressure go. Third thing I'm
going to encourage you to dois have a blessings list like I did.

(05:12):
Just small daily practices.They help you slow down and reframe
your mindset before the dateruns away. Because it's so easy for
the day to get away from this.But when you live in that daily practice
of that blessings list,because, listen, here's what. Here's
the truth. I say this on myshow all the time. What gets measured
gets done. So if you writethose things down, if you put it
in black and white and justvisit that. Listen, sometimes you

(05:35):
got to visit several times aday because you get into one of those
days. And I have those days,I'm sure you do too, where it's like,
man, everything is goingwrong. Everything is a disaster,
everything is a mess. Well,that's when you get out that blessing
list. You start reading about,oh, I can get out of bed. I don't
have cancer. I don't havechronic illness. I have a loving
wife. I have a loving family.Family. I have all these things.

(05:56):
I have a job, I have a placeto live. When you start to do that,
you start to say, wait aminute, I don't have to live in that
mindset. Because here's thetruth. Thankfulness will fight the
worry. Because here's thetruth. You can't stay anxious and
at the same time give thanks.One emotion cancels the other. And
we live in a culture whereit's so easy to live in fear. It's
so easy to be worried aboutwhat's going to happen next. If you

(06:18):
listen to the news, you'regoing to constantly be living in
fear. But that's hard to feelwhen we're thankful. When we start
off with that gratitude, westart off with that thanks. And here's
something else I wanted you totake away for today. You can honor
God through thanks, becausehere's a bold statement, but I want
you to hear this. Gratitude isworship. I want to say that again
because a lot of people don'tget it. But being grateful is a sense

(06:42):
of worship because it showsGod this. It shows him that you trust
him both through the goodtimes and let's call them the not
so good times or thosedifficult times. He's like that true
friend. If you ever have thattrue friend the Bible talks about,
if you find one true friend,man, you've gotten it. But think
about that true friend youhave. No matters what's going on.
They're there for you duringthe good and the bad and the ugly.

(07:03):
Well, that's what God is tous. That's what Christ is to us.
He's our true friend throughgood and bad. And when you are grateful,
that's worship. Let's get toour Bible verse. Actually have two
Bible verses today. It's a twofor Tuesday, as they say. The first
one comes to us from 1stThessalonians, chapter 5, verse 18.
It says this. Give thanks inall circumstances, for this is God's

(07:25):
will for you in Christ Jesus.What is it? What is he telling us?
Give thanks in allcircumstances. Starts there. And
Psalm, chapter 100, verse 4.Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise.Give thanks to him and praise his
name. Listen, I can't say anybetter than the Scriptures do. Enter
his gates with thanksgivingand his courts with praise. I just

(07:46):
picture that in my mind. Justthat grateful heart, that grateful,
that praise of him. Hey,listen, right now, that's what heaven's
going to be like, my friend.It's going to be constant days of
praise and thanksgiving. Well,how about we pray right now, Lord,
we come to you right now. Andwe may not be feeling so grateful.
We may not be feeling thatthankfulness that we need to feel,
Lord. So help us to have thatgrateful heart and really end this

(08:09):
month strong. Teach me to seethe blessings, Lord, and help me
to see the challenges thatyou're there to help me provide for,
Lord, and. And let thatthankfulness overflow into a state
of peace and to a state ofgenerosity. Help us to squash all
that noise and that feeling ofnot having enough, Lord, and help
us to just focus on whatyou've already given us. Help us
to grateful in that. And I askthis in the name of Jesus. Amen.

(08:33):
All right, so here's youraction item for today. Just like
I did, I want you to writedown three things that you're thankful
for each day this week. I'mnot asking you for a month, just
this week. Just write downthree things that you're grateful
for every day. I don't care ifthey're big, I don't care if they're
small, but make it a habit.Make it A habit of praise versus
that pressure. Because let metell you right now, at the end of

(08:55):
that week, your mindset willbe changed. Now, before we wrap up
today, I want to invite you tobe part of something special. We
just launched what we'recalling the Financially Confident
Christian Community. Now, thisis a place where believers just like
you can grow together. We canshare encouragement, we can share
those challenges that we'refacing, and we can help spread God's
truth about money and all thespiritual things we want to. And

(09:15):
listen, when you join us, andyou could do it real simply, I made
it super simple here. Just goto financially confidentchristian.com
join. And when you go there,you're not just supporting the show.
You're helping build acommunity of faith and a community
of freedom that reaches peopleall over the world. So I'm going
to encourage you right now.Come be part of what God is doing
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(09:38):
Listen, it's absolutely free.There are some membership options
if you're interested insupporting the show. But please go
there today and join us.That's at financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join.
Remember this, gratitudechanges how you see everything. And
the more you thank God, themore peace you're going to find.
And so let's end November withpraise because it's going to set
the tone for December's joy.So go out there today and be a financially

(10:02):
confident Christian. Haveconfidence in you and the Lord is
cheering you right on as well.Stay financially savvy today. God
bless you. And you have agreat day today.