The Art of Gratitude

Tis' the season for Gratitude! With American Thanksgiving in our rearview and the holiday season underway, there's no better time to practice gratitude than now! Take some time to reflect on the things, moments, and people that you are grateful for this year.

Gratitude isn't just an action, it's a mindset that's an important aspect of a healthy lifestyle. It can come in many different mediums, whether it's physically expressed like in a journal or as a part of your morning meditative thoughts, or even a conversation with someone else. Gratitude can be a simple task that seems elementary but when integrated into your daily routine, can have a large impact on your outlook on life and even affect your relationships.

Integrating Gratitude Into Your Day to Day

Settling into a routine can be difficult especially as we approach the holiday season, routine tends to fall away (which is totally okay!) but gratitude is one routine that is extra important during the holiday season not only internally, but externally. Show and tell the people you love that you are grateful for them! Here are 3 tips to integrate gratitude into your daily routine:

1. Self-Pillow-Talk

I think everyone can relate to waking up in the morning, all cozied up in your warm sheets and enjoying the time before your snoozed alarm rings for the 5th time and it's actually time to get up and face the day. This time is the perfect way to sneak gratitude into your day, whether you're new to daily gratitude or if you have an aptitude for gratitude. You can also implement this tactic when you're laying in bed trying to beat the intrusive thoughts and fall asleep, creating. Instead of just trying to get your brain to shut up, provide some structure to your thoughts, by practicing gratitude. I challenge you to make a list of 3 things you are grateful for - in the morning or at night. You can think about things that you were grateful for during the day or exciting things coming up in your life or even simple things like sunshine if it was a beautiful day or even being grateful for good health. The purpose of the self-pillow-talk is to get into the habit of practicing gratitude and to start and end your day on a positive note, bookends of gratitude for your day. If you are looking for more structured gratitude meditation you can check out free mediation videos on YouTube or on apps like Calm, Headspace and even Peloton.

2. 5 Minute Journal

If you're looking for a physical manifestation of your gratitude this is a great way to ease into journalling! The Five Minute Journal has daily quotes and prompts to be followed in the morning and in the evening. This is a great entryway into journalling because you simply answer the questions pre-written for you so all you have to do is focus on gratitude. It also has a section to write daily affirmations in the form of "I am" statements that I find really help set you up for a great day! This was one of my favourites from back in our November Favs in 2020 and still is a daily practice 1 year later!

3. Coffee Talks

This may seem obvious but sometimes gratitude is as simple as sitting down with a cup of coffee and your friend and getting real with them. Talk about what you're grateful for and all of the great things and people in your life. We tend to spend a lot of time focusing on the things that are going wrong in our life or people with who we are annoyed, which is largely unproductive as most of the time we don't have control over these things and dwell on them will only harm you.

Whichever form of gratitude you choose to integrate into your daily routine I hope that you discover the same benefits that I have. By taking a few minutes each day to practice gratitude your entire mindset will experience a positive shift. Gratitude has empowered me to look at the world from a perspective of appreciating beauty in the small things and focusing on the things that I can control in my life, overall making me happier and more at peace.

Stay Grateful & ✨Glowing✨

- Sarah