Would you like to feel really good about your life and have more abundance? One way to get started is to add gratitude into your daily life. It is so easy to focus on what’s not going right or what we don’t have, but it takes a little more practice to appreciate all the wonderful things in our life that we often take for granted. When you start to recognize what you are grateful for you will have a positive shift in how you feel and you will begin to notice more abundance in your life.
Feeling brighter and happier about your life is not something that is impossible to achieve, but you have to be willing to move out of your comfort zone and maybe even try something new like practicing gratitude each day. You could even get to a point where you feel you are living a very charmed life. So how do you start to move in that direction? We have all probably heard since we were kids that we need to be thankful. When we were kids we probably heard those words when we were not appreciating something in our life or not being thankful and our parents dutifully reminded us that we should appreciate what we have. The concept of gratitude is not something new, but practicing and recognizing everything we are grateful for on a daily basis might be something new to you.
When you stop to think about all the beautiful and wonderful things in your life you might even feel overwhelmed. Because we often focus on the things we don’t have, we easily forget about all the wonderful friends and family that are in our life, that we have food on our table or toes on our feet to help us walk. While I realize we all have days where it is hard to find things we are grateful for, however if we try to dig a little deeper we can usually come up with at least one thing that we are thankful for. When we find that one thing, we can feel it all over our body. Even on the days where you really are having a hard time finding something to be thankful for you can be thankful for the fact that you are alive and breathing.
There are several ways you can get started on adding more gratitude to your daily life. Below are a few ideas. Read through them and decide if there are any that you could start doing for yourself. Challenge yourself and try doing one of these for one month and see if your attitude of gratitude starts to bring more abundance your way.
Options for adding gratitude into your life:
Start a gratitude journal. This is a great way to start. Each day you list out all the things you are grateful for and what you appreciate. Think about the day and what about it brought gratitude to you. The key to this is to write them down on paper. You can use a notebook or journal to keep all your lists in one spot.
Get a gratitude buddy. Find a friend or family member and e-mail each other every day what you are grateful for. Agree that you aren’t going to judge or discuss what you each write about, but it is a way to be held accountable.
Begin and end with gratitude. Start each morning laying in bed and go over in your mind what you are grateful for and then end each night doing the same thing. What a beautiful way to start and end each day.
Make it a family event. Each night have the family share what they are grateful for about their day and their life. This is a great topic around the dinner table but if that can’t happen doing it at bedtime would be a good time too.
A few extra tips for adding gratitude to your days:
Thinking or writing about what you are grateful for can be done anytime of the day. It does not always have to be in the morning or in the evening, however getting into a habit of making it around the same time every day will help ensure that you don’t forget about it.
Sometimes it helps to create a list and allow yourself to vent and get any negative thoughts out, but end that paragraph or sentence with what you are grateful for. There can be some amazing “aha moments” when you do this.
Remember the little things in life.
Think about the things you take for granted and give gratitude for them.
When you start adding gratitude each day you will feel lighter and probably smile more. Give yourself a challenge and try practicing gratitude each day and notice how abundant your life becomes.
Carrie Saba, Holistic Health Coach, helps others see their inner strength through a new light. She offers valuable insight & lifestyle tips in her free monthly ezine, Wellness Tips with Carrie, as well as on her blog. Carrie believes our spirit is fed on how we think, what we experience, and eat. She empowers her clients and believes everyone should know their brilliance and enjoy life! Learn more about Carrie by visiting her website.