Can you believe how fast this year has gone by? It’s almost Thanksgiving and the new year will be here in a blink of an eye.
I always find that I tend to feel nostalgic during the holidays. Maybe it’s spending time with loved ones that we haven’t seen in a long time, or maybe we think about loved ones that we’ve lost and how those people shaped or contributed to our lives in some way. Or maybe it’s just looking back at what transpired over the course of the year, sometimes with joy and happiness and sometimes with sadness and regret. Whatever the thoughts are, certainly Thanksgiving is the time of year (here in the US) when we think more about expressing gratitude.
Some time ago, I was listening to a YouTube video about Gratitude. The speaker (I don’t remember who it was) talked about a “thought experiment” related to practicing gratitude each and every day. He posed, “What if the only things in your life tomorrow (the people, objects, things, opportunities, etc.) are the things that you express gratitude for today?” And then he asked, “How that would change the way you live your life today?” I listened to it a couple of times just to really feel the power in those two simple questions. I found it to be super thought provoking. It made me think about gratitude in a completely different way.
I’m a firm believer that when we take the time to express, what we are grateful for, it not only helps us feel better both mentally and physically, but it also brings more of those things into our lives. In other words, it helps us identify the goodness in our lives which ultimately brings us more goodness. Expressing gratitude can make us feel like we have more than we do, which helps us to feel better about ourselves in general. Bottom line is that expressing genuine gratitude heals your mind, body and spirit and attracts more things into your life for you to be grateful for.
Being grateful for the water we drink, the air we breath and the fresh whole food that we get to fuel our bodies with, or the sunshine that kisses our face while we’re walking in nature on a cool fall day is fantastic, but let’s get real, it’s not always rainbows and unicorns. Even in what seems to be the darkest of moments, there is something to be grateful for. It may be heart breaking at that moment and we may not realize the good in a situation till years later as we look back on it in the context of where we are today. It’s surely not always easy to unpack these things, but it’s worth digging deep to reveal what we can be thankful for, even in the worst situations.
I’ve been thinking of the people in my life and it warms my heart in a beautiful way. Some of those people have been in my life for a long time and others have come into my life in the past few years when I needed them most – or we needed each other most. Isn’t it funny how that works? I know that all of these people are/were part of my life to teach me something or maybe so I could teach them something. And some of those people are/were my soulmates. Some who were very close to my heart crossed my path only for what seemed like a moment in time and others are still a part of my life today. Whatever the situation, when I think about it, I know that all of them brought experiences to me that contributed to my journey. All of them are a part of my story and helped me to grow and evolve whether the experience was happy or heart wrenching. And for that, I express heart felt gratitude.
Certainly expressing gratitude can be extremely personal and there’s something very powerful about putting the things we are grateful for in writing (in a journal). Somehow it’s easier to do when we do it in writing and it gives those things more credibility or weight or meaning when they are written down. Not to mention that it’s insightful to go back and look at those things that we wrote in the past to see what impact it had on our life. Try it and you’ll find, like I did, that gratitude journaling as a regular practice can truly change your perspective.
When thinking about what you are grateful for, you might also think about the following:
· What are you to learn from the situation?
· What is your body telling you?
· What is your heart telling you?
· What was taken from you and what was given to you?
· What is the lesson and how will you use that lesson as you move forward in this life?
· What was your personal growth- the takeaway from the situation?
· What people are/were put in your path?
· …And as mentioned in the opening of this post, “What if the only things we had tomorrow are the things we are grateful for today?”
Now is a good time to pause and reflect upon people, events and moments in your day, week, or life with gratitude. Take a moment and jot down what you are grateful for. Or better yet, if you can, tell those in your life how grateful you are for them.
The journey to a healthier, happier you-mind, body and soul is so worth it. I know because I lived it.I stopped chasing skinny and started focusing on my health—and that single shift changed everything. I lost 140 pounds, but more importantly, I found clarity, energy, and a life that finally feels like mine. I tell the whole story in my book. Click HERE to learn more.
Click HERE and scroll to journals if you need gratitude journal. This will take you to my selection of journals on Amazon.
