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We all get into the rush and tumble of everyday life. When we do, we tend to forget being grateful for what we have, tend to only focus on the negative, and/or keep imagining all of the other stuff we want/"need". I am certainly guilty of all of these. In fact, as I reviewed my gratitude log, I realized in 3 weeks time, I only did 6 entries. I didn't exactly meet the everyday goal...
But you know what, I keep on trying to incorporate gratitude into everyday life. Without it, we can become bitter. Bitter that life hasn't turned out the way we wanted or thought it should. Bitter we don't have the "things" we want. Bitterness, however, doesn't magically make all of those things disappear. It just makes everything seem all the worse.
So, how do we go about incorporating gratitude into everyday life? You have to practice and practice. You need to tune into the thoughts that constantly swirl around in your head.
For some, this may mean starting a formal gratitude journal
or it might just mean writing down 3 things you are grateful for daily. It doesn't have to be formal; it can be on a post-it.
That way you can see it many times through the day. I've found that a grateful heart and outlook is easier when you remind yourself frequently. Our brains have trouble focusing on the positive; most tend to lean towards the negative. Our gratitude most importantly does not have to be profound. It doesn't count more to have a bigger thing listed like peace on earth. It is the simple everyday moments that make up life. Yes, the bigger picture is important. Yes, setting goals is fundamental to achieving them, but you have to get through the everyday moments to get to the end goal. It might as well be pleasurable along the way. If it's not pleasurable along the way, then we're likely a) doing some wrong b) not enjoying the everyday.
To be frank, I've been dogging my husband for weeks and not being grateful. Granted we've been dealing with lice and trying to get our house in order after moving...and I'm changing jobs. I got so angry with him for not helping him and very ungrateful about us, our marriage, our family, and our new home. I just saw BAD everywhere. He was bad, our relationship was BAD, we weren't connecting. Granted we/I was in a really stressful situation, combing lice out of a 19 month old's hair is the most tedious and unfruitful experience ever. Not to mention, I was trying to work, trying to get rid of lice (aka I washed everything in the house in hot water), trying to keep my house together, I soon discovered staying at home with my beautiful daughter was never something that was going to be meant to be. I was mean; I was bitchy; I was most ungrateful.
In the midst of all that, a best friend of mine asked me to be her positivity coach. I definitely didn't accept warmly or with any grace, but it made me realize something. A person I've known for over 20 years wanted ME to be their positivity coach. That's freaking incredible and also probably means I'm pretty good at it...well at least some of the time when lice isn't involved.
We all get into the rush and tumble of everyday life. When we do, we tend to forget being grateful for what we have, tend to only focus on the negative, and/or keep imagining all of the other stuff we want/"need". I am certainly guilty of all of these. In fact, as I reviewed my gratitude log, I realized in 3 weeks time, I only did 6 entries. I didn't exactly meet the everyday goal...
But you know what, I keep on trying to incorporate gratitude into everyday life. Without it, we can become bitter. Bitter that life hasn't turned out the way we wanted or thought it should. Bitter we don't have the "things" we want. Bitterness, however, doesn't magically make all of those things disappear. It just makes everything seem all the worse.
So, how do we go about incorporating gratitude into everyday life? You have to practice and practice. You need to tune into the thoughts that constantly swirl around in your head.
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| gratitude |
For some, this may mean starting a formal gratitude journal
or it might just mean writing down 3 things you are grateful for daily. It doesn't have to be formal; it can be on a post-it.That way you can see it many times through the day. I've found that a grateful heart and outlook is easier when you remind yourself frequently. Our brains have trouble focusing on the positive; most tend to lean towards the negative. Our gratitude most importantly does not have to be profound. It doesn't count more to have a bigger thing listed like peace on earth. It is the simple everyday moments that make up life. Yes, the bigger picture is important. Yes, setting goals is fundamental to achieving them, but you have to get through the everyday moments to get to the end goal. It might as well be pleasurable along the way. If it's not pleasurable along the way, then we're likely a) doing some wrong b) not enjoying the everyday.
To be frank, I've been dogging my husband for weeks and not being grateful. Granted we've been dealing with lice and trying to get our house in order after moving...and I'm changing jobs. I got so angry with him for not helping him and very ungrateful about us, our marriage, our family, and our new home. I just saw BAD everywhere. He was bad, our relationship was BAD, we weren't connecting. Granted we/I was in a really stressful situation, combing lice out of a 19 month old's hair is the most tedious and unfruitful experience ever. Not to mention, I was trying to work, trying to get rid of lice (aka I washed everything in the house in hot water), trying to keep my house together, I soon discovered staying at home with my beautiful daughter was never something that was going to be meant to be. I was mean; I was bitchy; I was most ungrateful.
In the midst of all that, a best friend of mine asked me to be her positivity coach. I definitely didn't accept warmly or with any grace, but it made me realize something. A person I've known for over 20 years wanted ME to be their positivity coach. That's freaking incredible and also probably means I'm pretty good at it...well at least some of the time when lice isn't involved.
Let gratitude rise within you and become a daily ritual.
4 comments:
So true! I set up a gratitude jar at the first of the year...on new years eve I will take all my slips out and re-read them.
This is so true!and I needed ti read this tonight. Thanks for sharing ��
I love this. I definitely need to add a gratitude log into my daily life, because some days it's hard to see the good even when it's somewhat obvious. Plus it would be nice to be able to look back and see the good that happened during previous weeks, months or even years. I think I will add a gratitude log in my bullet journal. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much lovely ladies! A little bit of gratitude can definitely go a long way. Hugs.
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