When you change the way you look at things in your life,
the things you look at in your life begin to change.
Gratitude is a positive emotion, a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation for anything. It is attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive. It could be a relationship, abundance, state of health, personal or public blessings, there is no limit to what gratitude could be applied to.
It is generally accepted that the easiest way to be happy in life and have a higher level of wellbeing is to simply practice gratitude on a daily basis. The real-life benefits of regularly practicing gratitude are only deniable by those who have not practiced it. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and have a higher level of satisfaction with their lives.
If this is your first time doing this exercise, you can't begin to imagine how practicing gratitude for just 30 days will change your life. Depending on how quick you are, this is something that can literally change how you feel about yourself, your life, and those around you.
Are you ready to commit to it for 30 days? Great, but how do you get started?
Your Gratitude Journal
First you will need some form of a gratitude journal. It can be a journal specifically made for the task, just a pad of paper or anything else in between. There is no amazing magic that will come from purchasing something expensive or fancy but there is value in having a place where you can keep all of your entries together. Some people like to turn their journal into a craft project by gluing meaningful reminders on the covers. Some even turn it into a mini vision board. Post-it notes are really only viable if you plan on dedicating a wall to them. Can you imagine, a wall of gratitude! I kind of like the ring to that. Entering your gratitudes into a computer, blogging or even Tweeting them can be very convenient.
Important Tips
- Be sure to write down your gratitudes on paper or in a journal. If typing them, print them up regularly. There will be days when you will not feel grateful or resourceful and may have trouble finding something to be grateful for. Your gratitude list isn't just for writing, its for reading too. You can share it with others or keep it to yourself. Each person will have their special way of going about it.
- Come up with three (3) to five (5) things to be grateful each day. It may not be easy some days. These are the days of personal growth, the days where you must persist and find a way to write something you can be grateful for. As you exercise your gratitude muscle, you will find that it will get easier and that you will start to want to write more than just 3 to 5 gratitudes per day. This is perfectly natural. Feel free to indulge.
- To make this exercise even more effective, give someone a compliment each and every day and include it in your journal. For maximum effectiveness, give this complement to the person in your life you feel probably least deserves it.
Getting Started
To get started, just write the words: "I am grateful…" on the first line of each daily entry. If you can come up with three things right fro the get go, all the power to you.
Below is a list of gratitudes I have collected over time from various sources. Think of it as something to help you get jump-started into a different way of thinking. Put the list below aside for those days when you might need it.
You could start off by reading it, taking what is meaningful to you and forgetting the rest. You might just read the list and let it inspire you to come up with your own ideas. You might come up with your own creative way to use it. You can even just ignore the list completely and start by creating a list of gratitudes for things, situations or people from your past. Whichever approach you choose, the idea is to just let your feelings out so that you can start appreciating yourself and everything and everyone that is part of your life.
I am grateful… (for this list of examples)
- For surprises -- I got a great unexpected phone call today.
- For the love and support of my friends
- For my knowledge
- For my wondrous life and the gifts I'm presented with each day
- For each and every day of my life
- For the magical miracle that is the birth of my child
- For the blue sky, the sun that comes every day to give me light and warmth, the air, the water, the trees, the flowers, the rain, the clouds, the stars, the moon and for the endless beauty that is all around me.
- For the stranger who smiles at me without a reason.
- For kids laughter
- For the power within me.
- For the sense of humility to feel grateful for each breath that I take.
- For being able to share my feelings.
- For priceless and precious moments in my life
- For being able to contribute to others
- For blessings of my father’s/mother’s life.
- For the people whose lives have touched me and for the love they pass on to me.
- For having had the opportunity to get to know my father / mother
- For all the teachers in my life
- For the stranger who put a quarter in my parking metre
- For the life I am living
- For the job opportunities
- For fresh blankets of beautiful snow, which makes our world look so clean, peaceful and pure.
- For being blessed with so much love and so much joy
- For the many people around me who motivate and support me.
- For my health, my body, and the energy and life inside me
- For the positive things that happen to me every day.
- For the environment in which I live, to be in a part of the world where there is no war, where we are safe and can express our feelings and emotions.
- For the love of my life.
- For having a place to call my home, for having my car, my clothes, my money, my bed, my chair, my couch, my table, healthy food, my business, for water, and breath itself.
- For the amazing people who have influenced my life, my spirituality, music that moves me, poetry
- For being able to laugh, hug, hold hands, neck rubs.
- For being wise enough to be grateful.
- For being open to new ideas and new possibilities.
- For my husband / wife who loves me despite actually knowing me.
- For the clean air I breathe
- For sunsets on the beach
- For the sunrise and the dawn of a new life each day.
- For my family
- For being thank FULL
- For being so happy and grateful that I now love myself unconditionally.
- That God loves me and is always with me as we walk together through life.
- For the ability to make choices and change what I don’t like about myself, to change my state in a heartbeat, to do almost anything and become almost anyone I want to be.
- For the ability to dance anywhere, anytime, even if it can only be inside myself at times.
- For the incredible hard work of others, knowing that each of us does the best we can in that moment.
- For having the ability to rest, relax yet knowing how to get into a peak state whenever I have a need.
- For feelings that come from my heart, and the gift that is my life.
- For waking up each morning and being able to get out of bed.
- For having love in my heart and music in my soul which make me the person I am.
- For my amazing child(ren)
- For loving parents and siblings, and all of the incredible people that have graced my life.
- For finding fulfilment in knowing and living my purpose in life.
- For finding and sharing love in my heart despite hardships in my life.
- For realizing that I can step up and have the leading role in my life instead of just being part of the supporting cast.
- For creating space and opportunities in my life to get together and talk with friends I haven’t seen in a while.
- For Psalm 16:11
- For silence, for the sounds of birds chirping in the trees, babbling brooks.
- For taking action today to ensure that 20 years from now that I don’t regret all the things I didn’t do in my life and all the chances I didn’t take.
- For the love of my pet ________ who brings joy and love into my life.
- For the beauty I see around me and in others every day.
- For black, bad, failure, nothing and emptiness. For without these, there could be no white, good, success, everything and love.
- For good health, vitality, abundance, love to share and receive, and all of the opportunities to contribute which bring me fulfilment in my life.
- For being truly feminine is powerful and full of grace, not woozy or weak.
- For being truly masculine which means being confident, not arrogant; strong, not forceful; responsible, not thoughtless; emotionally safe; emotionally mature to meet life’s challenges and to give love without expecting anything back in return; emotionally confident enough to be gentle, warm and caring – in other words, not be afraid of feminine qualities within all of us; trustworthy; knows when it’s time to be silly and when its not.
- For the bus driver who waited for me.
- For being able to see, feel, touch, smell, learn, walk, laugh and grow every day.
- For being able to spend time with someone I love, for being able to hold hands, hug and laugh together.
- For all the love, joy, success and passion in my life.
- For the unspoken laws of the universe
- For being one of one people of this one world.
- For the consistent revelations and distinctions that come my way each day.
- For having a friend like you.
- For waking this morning and finding my husband/wife next to me.
- For the abilities and talents God has given me.
- For my friends and all the people who come into my life, even for a short time.
- For the ability to feel love, pain, passion and joy, and the choice of not to complain.
- For being able to see the ocean and the trees, to smell the flowers to feel the breeze.
- For the power of gratitude as we go through this adventure called life.
- For everything I have, and everything I can share.
- For having the opportunity to know _______________.
- For the wonderful experiences and the important lessons that are offered to me each day.
- For the gift learning of a skill that allows me to shift my state and focus to what is expansive in the moment, rather than what is reducing.
- For all the bountiful gifts I receive every moment of my life.
- For freedom, free enterprise and mastermind group.
Feel free to share and let me know how this exercise affected your life.
With warmest regards,
Life Coach Michael Milette
www.MichaelMilette.com
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Take what makes sense to you in life and leave the rest. --- Michael Milette
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