My BEST Tip For Practicing Gratitude

Hopefully you’re still basking in the glow of connection and gratitude with loved ones over Thanksgiving.  There’s a lot of hoopla around gratitude before the holiday arrives.  I’m here to keep it going!

We know that gratitude is best practiced daily.

When we approach gratitude daily, it’s a well that never runs dry.  In fact, the more we dip down to acknowledge daily blessings, gifts, and love in our lives, the more the cup overflows.

I’m keeping this one short and sweet with my BEST tip for practicing gratitude.  

If you’re a Brene Brown follower you’ve likely heard her not only define gratitude, but emphasize gratitude as a practice.  She laughs while sharing that while years ago she purchased a yoga mat, and wears yoga pants regularly, yet she has ever, indeed, actually gone to yoga.  We laugh along because we know the distinction! I bet we can all think of something similar in our own lives? Is there a hobby you dearly would like to embody but somehow never get around to actually doing it?   

So, here’s your invitation to embody gratitude by practicing gratitude.  Daily.  Heck, hourly even! While I don’t have the magic 8 ball to tell you how, I’m confident your life will be transformed from the inside out. 

I’d guess more than 50% of us say a word or prayer of gratitude as we wind down for the day. Perhaps you identify several items, gifts, or people, that you experienced throughout the day that you are most grateful for. This is a FABULOUS practice (keep doing it!). 

My tip to consider is to employ this at the beginning of the day, also. 

Before your feet hit the ground as you slide out of bed, what could you offer gratitude for in anticipation of the day? 

Here are some examples if you’re unsure - and of course, the possibilities are wide varied because we are a people wide and varied. 

• Thank you for this warm bed and restful sleep.

• Thank you for waking up beside someone I love and having a wonderful teammate.

• Thank you for the opportunities today to serve and love.

• Thank you for wisdom and peace in the workplace today.

• Thank you for my beautiful body to move and stretch and enjoy this day. 

• Thank you for the gift of life.

• Thank you for the ways I will grow, stretch and be challenged today.

  If you’re spiritual, it’s the perfect moment to thank God for your life, this day, and offer the day for His Glory. - Thank You, God, for all the gifts and blessings today. I cheerfully offer them back to you.

Again, the list is endless and the wording need not be perfect or scripted.

The importance is how this morning gratitude influences your mind and heart as you take your very first actions of the day.

Let me know if you try it out!