Gratitude

In America this week we have a national holiday called ‘Thanksgiving’.  If we for a moment strip off the unfortunate histrionics of the foundation myth it is quite a thing – to have a day where the nation as one formally expresses its thanks.  I like to think of it as National Gratitude Day.

What is Gratitude?  Why do we want to practice it?  How does it help us?  How does it help the world?

It turns out that practicing gratitude is an excellent path to all sorts of good stuff.  It makes us feel more positive about our lives.  It gives us higher levels of satisfaction.  It makes our relationships stronger.  It makes us want to help others more.

Practicing gratitude eliminates our scarcity mentality and replaces it with an abundance mentality.  Gratitude can change a fixed mindset into a growth mindset.

Some studies have shown that practicing gratitude can increase happiness by as much as 25%.

With all this benefit why don’t we practice gratitude?  The truth is that we get stuck in our routines.  We get too busy.  We get too wrapped up in our day-to-day grind and forget to be grateful.  We worry about what we don’t have. We let other people with bad karma spill over into our lives.

With all this benefit how do we work the practice of gratitude into our lives?  There are a number of small things you can do to drastically up the gratitude quotient of your life.  Ready for a whirlwind journey through some ways to get a little gratitude into your life?  Good.  Let’s go!

1. Really, it’s that simple.  When you find yourself in a rough patch or with a head full of crap just lean back, take a deep breath and smile.  Actually, do that right now.  See? Doesn’t that make you feel better?
2. Set specific times to be grateful and do it.
   1. In the morning, as part of your morning routine think about all the things you are grateful for. It doesn’t have to be anything amazing.  You can be grateful for your oatmeal and grateful for your coffee.  The key is to be consistent and practice it.
   2. At night before you go to bed. Think about 3-5 things that you were grateful for during the day.  Things that came into your life. People you interacted with.  Go to sleep grateful.
   3. Before specific events. Before you have a meal be grateful for it.  Before you go into that big meeting think of all the things you are grateful for.  It will totally change your intent as you enter the event. It will open up your mind to positive results.
   4. Set a random gratitude alarm on your phone. Have a specific alarm, maybe with some happy music, that goes off during the day specifically to remind you to smile and be grateful.
3. Write it down. Most of the success coaches tell you to journal about what you’re grateful for.  Just jot down a few things during one of those gratitude breaks.  There’s some science that points to the efficacy of the act of writing stuff down having greater impact than just thinking about it.
4. Say it out loud. Some people are tactile and will get a jolt from writing their gratitude down.  Some people are more influenced by audio. Recite your short list of what you’re grateful for out loud.
5. Tell someone else. Hey, if you’re going to say it out loud, why not go ahead and tell someone else what you’re grateful for?  Then you’re influencing two lives for the better.
6. Really tell someone else. Instead of just telling them what you’re grateful for, tell them what about them you’re grateful for!
7. Look for things to be grateful for. As you’re walking through your day see if you can find things to be grateful for and make note of them. This will create an expectation of gratitude.
8. Have gratitude for the hard stuff. I know life isn’t all unicorns and rainbows.  As a matter of fact if you’re doing it right life should be full of awesome challenges.  Practice being thankful for these awesome challenges! They are what makes life worth living.  Smile at that shit.
9. Ask better questions. When it gets hard we have a tendency to ask the wrong questions like “Why is this so hard?”  Instead, practice asking more grateful questions like “what can I learn from this?” or “What good can I take from this?” or “How does this make me stronger? Better?”
10. Get physical. Start creating things and places that you can associate with your gratitude practice.  This way the simple act of being in that place or seeing that thing will change your state to one of gratitude.
    1. A ‘thank you walk’ where you get out and walk around looking for things and people to be grateful for.
    2. A gratitude token, like a jar that you put pennies in or a lucky charm of some sort. Anything that when you see it, it will remind you of your gratitude practice.
    3. A gratitude spot where you can go to practice your gratitude, like a special spot to sit and think.

There you go.  10 specific tips on how to bring a practice of gratitude into your life.

Be thankful.

Life is abundant.

Cheers,

Chris,