I was asked to write an article about gratitude for Mandala Success in November as it was their theme for the month and they love getting different perspectives to share with their community. We focus more on gratitude in November and December than any other month of the year. Have you ever noticed how much more aware you are of what you’re grateful for around Thanksgiving? That’s because what you focus on grows.
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is being thankful. Gratitude is showing appreciation. It is recognizing the goodness in your life both internally and externally.
If you Google “gratitude and happiness”, you’ll find hundreds of articles and studies that suggest practicing gratitude can increase your happiness. My experience has proven to me this is absolutely true! I have conversations with people all the time where the main focus is on what is going wrong in their lives and heck, I was that person once too. When I decided to change my outlook, one of the first things I did was start practicing gratitude. The more I recognized what I was grateful for, the less room there was to focus on what wasn’t going well and things began to shift.
My Gratitude Journal
I started this new practice by myself. I bought a journal which I named My Gratitude Journal. I began writing one thing every day I was grateful for. This was too easy so I started writing three things every day. I took it up to five for a while which began to challenge me because the only rule I put in place was that I wouldn’t duplicate. Once I got past being grateful for my health, my family, my family’s health, my home and some other obvious ones, I had to start digging deeper and also noticing more of what I had been taking for granted. When it was the end of a really tough day, it challenged me even more. I found that identifying what I was grateful for on the bad days is when I noticed I was becoming a happier person. I also began recognizing the negative junk coming from my family.
Getting the family involved
As I became happier, I also became more aware of the yucky energy coming from the family at the end of the day. It was time to get them involved. It was 2011 and my son Noah was 6 years old when our tradition was born. We began sharing one thing we were each grateful for every night at the dinner table. We would not leave the table until everyone shared and let me tell you, some nights are tough. Most of the time it was just plain fun, especially hearing what a 6 year old boy was grateful for. This is a tradition that continues today and I can’t imagine a better way to wrap up a day than sitting with those I love most, enjoying dinner and focusing on all the wonderful things in our lives.
Practicing gratitude is like practicing a sport or instrument. The more you practice, the better you get. If you aren’t practicing gratitude regularly, I encourage you to start now. Recognizing the goodness in life every day, who wouldn’t find themselves happier?
With the climate of the world being what it is, this is so needed! Thanks for sharing my friend!
Start when you re ready; there s no need to wait for a special date. Tonight is fine, if you like. Some people like to focus on gratitude in the morning when they first wake up to get their day started off right, while others keep a running tally all day long. I personally like to write about the things I m thankful for at the end of the day.