Practicing Gratitude
Sounds funny right? I mean, how do you “practice gratitude”? It’s not like a sport, or learning an instrument. How can it be something you practice?
Well, actually, it is kind of like practicing something so you get really good at it, like playing piano, or sinking that free throw!
It’s all about mindset. Now, we all do feel gratitude for different things in our lives. Whether it’s being grateful for a gift someone gave to you, or just being grateful for that peace and quiet at the end of the day. But usually, we don’t really draw attention to or focus on the things we’re grateful for. We do feel gratitude, but we don’t consciously acknowledge it in a deliberate way.
But, when something displeases us, what do we do? How fast are we to vocalize our displeasure at something in our lives? How much do we love to complain about something that didn’t go right, or made us angry or frustrated throughout our day? Complaining about things in our lives can become an unconscious pass time, and it can wear you down and impact the moods of everyone around you.
Can you imagine what would happen if we put as much effort into vocalizing our gratitude as we do into complaining about things? How would that change our overall mood? How would that contribute to your overall happiness?
Well, that’s what I wanted to find out. So I started “practicing gratitude” about 3 years ago, coincidentally, right after my Dad passed away. I started incorporating it into my daily morning routine. I’d wake up, make my coffee, start my diffuser, do my stretching, and then sit and write down 10 things that I was grateful for.
They didn’t have to be earth shattering things, just simple things that I was grateful for, like having a warm house, and food in the fridge, and coffee, and my essential oils. Stuff like that.
I would just start with the phrase, “I am grateful for”, and fill in the rest. I’d write down ten things, and that would be that. Simple. We can all find ten things to be grateful for, right?
And do you know what I was really doing with this practice? I was re-wiring my brain. I was creating neuro pathways within my brain, helping me to be more grateful for all of the amazing blessings I have in my life. And it helped me to start off my day in a more positive way.
I also end my day in prayer and thank God for all of the blessings I have in my life, and I’ve been doing that for as long as I can remember. But you can do whatever is meaningful to you and whatever makes sense to you and your life and in your faith.
I remember a keynote speaker at a conference I once went to, talk about finding the diamonds in your life. It was the same concept. He told us that every night before he went to bed, he would write down three things that he was grateful for from that day, the “diamonds”. And it would end his day in gratitude before he went to sleep.
It really is a “practice”, acknowledging the things we are grateful for in our lives, and it may feel a bit weird and awkward for you when you first start doing it, but keep at it, and it just gets easier. Try diffusing your favourite essential oil while you are doing it, or just rub some Joy essential oil over your heart and breathe it in. Then just start writing. Don’t overthink it. We do have so much to be grateful for after all!
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