Starting a Gratitude Practice

A Gratitude Practice. Don’t roll your eyes at me. Gratitude works, and it takes less than 10 minutes a day. Starting your day in a positive mindset, thinking of small moments to be grateful for. My question for you, is why aren’t you practicing gratitude?

“If you aren’t grateful for what you already have, what makes you think you would be happy with more.”

 Roy T. Bennett

How I Started With Gratitude

Rachel Hollis. She is the reason and the teacher I had for gratitude. I did not learn this practice until I was 35 years old. I didn’t grow up learning to be thankful, positive, and appreciative. I grew up more with the “just make it through the day” mindset. And that is fine, and it worked until I became an adult and started actively searching for new information.

After I read her book, Girl, Wash Your Face, I really started implementing ideas that had never occurred to me, like a gratitude practice. I really wanted to make some progress on personal goals, and starting off with a grateful heart (I had a 2 year old at the time, so there was a lot to be thankful for) seemed like a great way to start my goal setting and journaling journey.

What Is My Gratitude Practice

My gratitude practice is part of my daily morning routine. I wake up at 5am every day, walk downstairs sans phone, and make my coffee. Use the bathroom, add creamer to my coffee, take my cup and go sit in my spot on the couch. Then I sit there.

I drink a few sips of my coffee and allow my brain and body to wake up. Sometimes, I drink some water too, to help wipe away some brain fog. Once I am more awake, I reach for my gratitude and goal journals. Two separate Mead notebooks. Nothing fancy here. I start with my goal journal, I don’t know why, I think because it takes the least time. I glance through it, update my habit tracker, and if I accomplished something, I check it off. Then, I open my gratitude journal. I think this also gives me a few minutes to get my brain in thinking mode.

I used to think of 5 things that happened that day before that I was grateful for and write them down. Now, I just write whatever comes to mind. Sometimes, it’s 3 things, and other times it’s a full page. I just think about the events that happened the day prior, and write whatever I am thankful for, a moment I felt joy, or at peace. I have literally written down I was grateful for leftovers because busy mom life happens, and if I don’t have to cook on a super busy day, then I am grateful for leftover spaghetti! This is your gratitude journal, so write down what works for your life!

Why Is a Gratitude Practice Important

Gratitude is a state of mind. You can’t be negative and grateful at the same time. You can’t hold joy and anger at the same time. You either are one or the other. Gratitude is a simple step in reframing your mindset. I find practicing gratitude in the morning as the best option, because my house is quiet, so I can really focus in on that time, and it feels good to start my day on a positive note and a grateful heart.

Practicing gratitude is taking the time and think of anything that has happened in the last 24 hours. Not, I am grateful for my house. I am grateful for my grandma. More specific than that. I am grateful for playing Uno in the living room in camping chairs with my husband’s family. I am grateful for taking my grandma and daughter to tea and watching them come up with queen names and kingdoms they rule. I am grateful for a meaningful text or letter I received in the mail. Specific and detailed is what we’re aiming for, so that when you’re in the moment, you choose to be really present and enjoy that moment. This helps you notice moments when they’re happening, and you can be really present because you know you want to soak it all up and write it down the next day.

Examples Of Gratitude

There are real things that I have written down in my journal.

• Family ice cream outing
• Finally getting a patio set for my front porch, and playing train on it with my daughter
• Family game nights
• Getting my nails done with my best friend
• Delicious dinners
• Group run with my running community
• A meaningful text from someone
• Letters or cards someone writes you
• When my daughter hugs me every morning, and yells “Mama!!” when I pick her up from school
• Playing ping pong with my husband
• When my grandma held my hand in the car for taking her somewhere new. She was literally grateful for seeing the sunshine.
• How my daughter talks about her courage as a cup, and either needing to fill it up or trying again because the courage fell out of the cup

What Are You Grateful For?

Dear friend. I highly encourage you to create a little bit of space in your day to think about gratitude. It truly helps when a moment is happening in front of you, your brain is trained to lazer focus in on it, and become really present in the moment. It’s like you get to experience the moment twice. Once, as it’s happening, and then again, the next day, as you reflect on it. Especially if you have kids, I cannot stress enough how you should reflect twice on a moment and write it down. These babies don’t keep, and we need to hold on to every little moment we can.

Write Your Gratitude Down

Grab any notebook you have lying around. Start with 3 things you can be grateful for. Then, increase it to 5 or more. Save your notebooks. Look back on them from time to time.

Choose joy sisters.

I would love for you to be a part of my community on IG!