Life can often feel like we are facing multiple obstacles that prevent us moving forward and make us feel dejected at our prospects. Expressing gratitude is the perfect countenance to this resistance and The Navigation Codex teaches that gratitude can not only make us feel better but transform outcomes.
Let’s explore why expressing gratitude works, how you can implement it in your daily life and what you can expect.
What Does Expressing Gratitude Mean?
The Navigation Codex operates simply; you either navigate in flow or resistance.
Flow – following the path of least resistance that your intuition guides you toward.
Resistance – following a path of resistance, forcing outcomes, battling upstream.
Gratitude in this context is the reduction of resistance patterns in your life by recognising the areas where you are flowing. It is a cathartic process where you are voluntarily letting go of resistance that makes you feel frustrated and unfulfilled.
By expressing gratitude, you are releasing attachment to resistance and creating a positive feedback loop for more flow to emerge naturally in your life.
What Materialist Science Says About Expressing Gratitude
Gratitude is a pretty abstract concept in materialism where everything is considered to be dead matter. However, there are some interesting studies that do examine how expressing gratitude impacts people’s lives.
The most famous study was conducted by Robert Emmons who evaluated participants who kept gratitude journals vs those who kept diaries with more neutral or even negative aspects of their lives.
The findings are surprising in the context of materialism but entirely predictable under The Navigation Codex.
Findings of the Robert Emmons Study on Gratitude
The study analysed the outcomes of over 1,000 participants with ages ranging from 8 years old to 80.
Emotional Wellbeing of Gratitude Practices
The study found those who kept gratitude journals had a more positive outlook on their lives and experienced better interpersonal relationships. Additionally, they were more determined, enthusiastic and made more progress toward their goals.
Physical Wellbeing and Expressing Gratitude
You might attribute emotional wellbeing to various ‘psychological’ phenomena under materialism, but you will be surprised by the physical outcomes of gratitude journaling.
Participants who kept gratitude journals:
- Exercised more regularly with more motivation for physical improvement,
- Had higher energy levels and alertness,
- Better sleep duration and quality,
- Reduced pain, lower blood pressure, improved immune response.
The Relationship to Others when Expressing Gratitude
In the emotional wellbeing findings, I highlighted better interpersonal relationships. Participants who kept gratitude journals also benefited from other social improvements.
- Ability to let go of wrongdoing by others and offer forgiveness more often,
- More willing to help others,
- Less lonely and able to sustain consistent and stable relationships with others.
Ultimately, expressing gratitude through journaling was shown to improve outcomes across a myriad of metrics compared to those who didn’t. The research also showed that results were significant within a short timeframe, with participants achieving statistically significant results rapidly and overwhelming results within 3 weeks of journaling.
How Being Ungrateful Creates Conflict in Life
When you are ungrateful, you are essentially rejecting your reality and any opportunities that may stem from where you currently are in life.
The Navigation Codex teaches this to be a resistance pattern you’re choosing to effectively wallow in.
If you can’t accept your current situation as being optimal for your journey, you’re unable to move forward in life. That isn’t to say that every situation will feel perfect or even be pleasant, gratefulness is about appreciating aspects of your situation that allow you to move from point a (where you are) to point b (where you want to be).
You simply can’t move from point a to b without understanding and appreciating the process. That’s why optimal navigation requires some degree of positive self-awareness.
Expressing Gratitude as a Navigation Codex Practice
There are optimal ways of using gratitude under The Navigation Codex. Because sovereignty is important, you have the choice whether to express gratitude in life. This article isn’t to tell you that you must do it, it is simply saying, gratitude works, if you don’t do it then there are various resistances you can accumulate.
It is just to inform you of how gratitude works and allow you to make an informed decision.
External Gratitude – What You Should be Grateful For
When expressing gratitude, focus on the personal rather than things you feel you ‘should’ be grateful.
For example, it is easy to slip into the frame of mind of being grateful for the roof over our heads or the food on our table because there are others less fortunate than us. This isn’t really productive; it is gratitude expressed through an external lens.
Expressing gratitude from an external ‘should’ perspective still works, it just works to a lesser extent than personal gratitude. It can also build minimal resistance in your life, where you are seeking external validation for your internal feelings and focus on aspects of reality you have no control over, but make you feel negative.
Expressing Gratitude is the Key that Unlocks Better Navigation
Instead focus on what you’re grateful for personally. You might have enjoyed something particular in a given day or be grateful for the way you looked in the mirror or how you conducted yourself.
Personal gratitude is the key; it grounds you in your navigational journey and allows you to feel empowered about where you are going in life.
Expressing Gratitude Journals
How one person expresses gratitude is different from the next. We are all unique and have our own ways of experiencing life. For some, the structure of keeping a gratitude journal is a way of connecting to their thoughts and experiences and documenting them.
Gratitude journals have become increasingly popular, especially as various spiritual practices have risen in society to counter materialism or try to answer the questions materialism can’t answer.
The frequency of journalling is also entirely dependent on your preferences. Daily journals keep up a regular and consistent focus on gratitude but can feel granular to some who prefer to journal weekly or fortnightly. Pick the frequency that helps you ground yourself in gratitude without feeling as though it is a burden.
Expressing Gratitude Meditations
For some, journalling itself is too formal, too rigid. You may want to express gratitude but not have it documented for someone to stumble across. You may see expressing gratitude as a very personal introspective activity.
Meditations are a brilliant way of processing the things you’re grateful for in life without anchoring those thoughts to reality by writing them down.
Meditation under the Codex has a completely different approach, one that allows you to practice fluidly without conforming to set time frames or rituals. Expressing gratitude in a mediation using The Navigation Codex can be as simple as spending a few minutes celebrating what works well for you while in a restful state.
Simple Gratitude Expression
Whichever method you use, the outcome is the same. By writing down thoughts or allowing them to resound in your head as you meditate, you’re internalising what you’re grateful for.
Your consciousness is processing everything in a grounding way; it can then help guide you onward in your navigational journey toward other experiences you can feel grateful for. It becomes a self-fulfilling or positive feedback loop.
The Navigation Codex is absolutely clear; you are not expressing gratitude to some external deity. You’re instead anchoring yourself to the experiences that fulfil you in life and move forward naturally and optimally as a result.
Give Gratitude a Try and See How It Works For You
Gratitude may not be for you, it may seem a bit airy fairy or you might have existing resistance patterns to trying it out. The choice is yours.
There is no harm in giving it a try though, treating it as your own personal journey experiment and discovering if it helps your navigational compass focus more keenly on the direction of best outcome.
Happy navigating.
