Gratitude’s Helping Hand with Shannon Halliday | GratitudeSpace
Exclusive Interview
Gratitude’sHelping Hand
with Shannon Halliday
Interview by Chris Palmore
For Shannon Halliday, gratitude became more than a way to notice what was good. It became a way to change the direction of her thoughts, honor what she had experienced, and recognize beauty even in loss and difficulty.
In this GratitudeSpace conversation, Shannon shares how a personal practice grew into something she now uses to encourage others — and how gratitude became a helping hand during some of the hardest moments of her life.
01
What does being grateful mean to you?
Focusing on what I have instead of what I don’t have.
“Focusing on what I have instead of what I don’t have.”
02
How has your understanding of gratitude evolved over time?
It started as a personal entitlement-killing journey and turned into an inspiring journey for others. It’s so automatic for me that now I do it more for others than myself in hopes of spreading a positive attitude of gratitude.
03
Right now, at this moment, what are three things you are grateful for and why?
People who check in on me.
Clean drinking water from the tap.
Sanitary living conditions.
04
How do you incorporate gratitude into your daily routine?
Daily gratitude posts.
05
Why do you believe it is important to express gratitude?
To celebrate what we have, to see beauty in loss, and to see beauty in the mundane.
06
How does expressing gratitude relate to passion and the feeling of love?
An example is my previous answer about 3 things I am grateful for right now. One being the consideration of others; by noticing and being grateful, you strengthen bonds and love because you notice the effort and give thanks.
07
How has gratitude influenced your personal and professional relationships?
I am respected and known for my positive attitude and my gratitude. I have inspired friends who have reached out and told me so. It has helped most relationships in my life because I am happier and more positive overall.
08
Can you describe a time when your expression of gratitude significantly impacted someone?
Often, I get a message from someone on FB telling me how my gratitude got them out of their head and feeling better about their current situation.
09
What is your gratitude story, or can you share a moment when it clicked for you?
When I stopped snowballing negative thoughts and started automatically being grateful, like knowing that I had been gifted loving parents, that when they died, I was devastated, but I started viewing myself as lucky to have had a love like that to lose, to begin with, some people go their whole life without experiencing that kind of love.
10
What do you think are some of the roadblocks that stop people from being grateful?
Toxic positivity. Misunderstandings that gratitude takes away any and all bad moods and feelings. Life still hurts sometimes, and you have to be gentle and experience the emotions and let them go, not guilt yourself out for having a rough time and not being grateful enough in that moment.
“Life still hurts sometimes.”
11
How would you advise someone struggling to find things to be grateful for?
Take time to learn about the struggles of living in a 3rd world country so you can be grateful for things that you overlook daily, like clean drinking water, electricity, and a safe place to lay your head.
12
What is one lesson you could share to provide hope for people in this time of crisis, and how could they use gratitude to bring that into focus?
I tried taking my life before; I had depression and anxiety and was deeply abused. I crawled out, and gratitude was the hand that helped me.
“I crawled out, and gratitude was the hand that helped me.”