Gratitude, All Year Long
As Thanksgiving gets closer and our thoughts turn to all the things are thankful for I have asked one of our teachers, Gretchen, to share her thoughts on gratitude. Thank you, Gretchen!
In August of last year I was inspired by a friend and mentor to begin each day with gratitude. Nearly every morning since then I start my day with a gratitude practice. I keep it simple so that I can commit a consistent practice.
When my alarm goes off I hit snooze and during those precious minutes before the next buzz I go through a list of things I am grateful for. I say them to myself but you could also say them out loud. You could journal them, if that is your thing, but keep the practice simple. Consistency is more important than complexity.
Recently I have been working on extending my gratitude practice throughout my day. Some simple ways to weave gratitude into your day include:
- Setting your smart phone screen image to something or someone you are grateful for.
- Incorporate a word that reminds you of gratitude into your computer password.
- Set a “solo meeting reminder” with a title of “Grateful”, “Gratitude” as a reminder to pause and say “thank you.”
The holidays inspire us to pause and give thanks for the blessings in our life. What if you used one of these daily tools to take that gratitude and weave it through out the year?
Thank you for being part of our amazing community, you are one of the things I am very grateful for.
love,
Gretchen