Are you a person who keeps a gratitude journal, who spends time counting their blessings, but when they look away from the page, that persistent, anxious feeling of “never enough” still hangs around.
You’re saying the words, but you’re not feeling the shift.
I want to challenge you: Stop saying you’re grateful, and let’s start acting, feeling, and living grateful. We’re talking about how to practice gratitude in a way that actually rewires your mindset and changes your life.
The reason many of us disconnect is that we get into autopilot behaviors. We may say we are grateful for life, and then turn around and be unkind and hard on ourselves. We think these thoughts intellectually, but we don’t let the feeling drop into our body. Let’s change that.
Scarcity Beyond Money
The inability to drop into genuine gratitude often stems from an inherited mindset of scarcity.
I can relate to this so much. I grew up where money was constantly chased, and the programming was clear: work very hard, don’t spend anything wasteful, and be hyper-vigilant because it might run out. I literally feared money and lived with the constant monologue: “Never enough,” “Have to work really hard,” and “I feel like a failure if I run out.” This kept me stuck in fear for far too long.
But the fear of scarcity doesn’t just stop at your bank account; it profoundly infects your emotional life. I recognized a fierce scarcity mentality in regards to love and affection. I felt that love was fleeting, and if I wanted it, I needed to work incredibly hard or perform for it. This led me to chase things I truly didn’t want and to show up in ways that felt completely unnatural.
The only thing that transforms that block is moving from chasing to cultivating.
I had a major breakthrough when I realized that no amount of external money or love would ever compensate for my ingrained programming. The only way out was to focus on cultivating internal abundance and being grateful for my existing talents and abilities.
Feeling vs. Thinking
Many people say “thank you” or list things they are grateful for, but they don’t feel a shift.
The fundamental difference between saying “thanks” (a polite reaction) and practicing transformational gratitude (a mindset change) is the body-mind connection.
A simple word of thanks is an autopilot reaction. Transformational gratitude is something much deeper. It means being intentional and dropping into a feeling energy that is far more impactful than just thinking a word.
The Feeling Strategy
Instead of just listing things, the transformational way to practice gratitude is to ask yourself: How can I actually feel this appreciation, not just think it?
This is the creative, non-obvious step that rewires your mindset:
- Ask for the Vibration: Ask yourself, “How do I want to feel in this moment?” Tell yourself, “I want to feel the vibration of gratitude.”
- Locate the Energy: Ask, “Where would I feel that in my body?” For me, thankfulness feels slow, soft, and supportive, usually in my heart area. Locate that positive energy vibe.
- Combine Word and Feeling: When you say your gratitude statements, you are intentionally dropping into your body to tap into where you feel it.
This process is about being mindful. When you are intentional about dropping into a feeling energy, you make gratitude transformational.
What Awaits?
When you retrain your brain to see opportunities and abundance rather than scarcity, your life changes completely.
- You stop chasing love externally because you trust that your true self is worthy of free, abundant affection.
- Your relationship with challenge and struggle improves. You stop letting the little things bother you because you see an opportunity in everything.
- Your life is no longer dictated by inherited fears; it’s driven by mindfulness and attention to the good that already exists.
Just like any muscle, your brain can grow stronger when you work it. You can absolutely shift that scarcity mindset by choosing to work the muscle of abundance.
Want to dive deeper into this topic and hear more of my personal insights? I invite you to watch my latest video.
Would you like to understand and rewrite your ingrained patterns? Check out my book, “Why Am I Like This?”, available on Amazon! You can learn more about my book at LifeCoachingwithCarisa.com/my-book. If you are ready to apply this to your life, schedule a free clarity call on my website.
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.”
Melody Beattie ~Author