The word gratitude is plastered everywhere these days but it’s not necessarily plastered into our minds or our behaviors.
Gratitude by definition is the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and return to kindness.
The application of gratitude helps to upgrade health and happiness and it increases our resilience to adversity. It’s literally impossible to feel fear and gratitude at the same time.
Way back in the day I heard Oprah describe her gratitude practice and how she kept a gratitude journal.
Yes I watched Oprah.
Ironically, I’m so grateful now that I did and had the wherewithal to try this out for myself!
Close to a decade later, I have a stack of gratitude journals to prove it! Every morning I write down 5 things that I am grateful for. Not just words to describe things, but rather connect deeper feel grateful in the moment for those things. Vs checking a box with a word that fills the spot.
It’s the dark days when gratitude is the last thing on our minds When it’s hard to find the words and the feelings. But those are the days that we need this practice the most.
I wasn’t always consistent in the beginning, but now I rarely miss a day. Why? It’s because I became aware of how quickly the progress of this practice can diminish & atrophy when not applied consistently. You can quickly default back to that ungrateful asshole mode that seems to come very naturally to some of us!
The very cool (and unexpected) thing about keeping a journal is that you can reflect back in detail where your head was at various times in your life and how you may or may not have evolved. You can also discover reoccurring themes and what common threads still exist. That is only when I can read my nasty chicken scratch hand-writing!
If you don’t journal gratitude daily now, think about installing this habit. Super simple and effective.