Gratitude
Today is a holiday, Labor Day, and many of us don’t have to “work”. I want to take today to reflect, and practice some extra gratitude.
I am grateful I don’t have to work today; I know there are those that don’t have that privilege.
I chose to work today, I chose to write this article, and I chose to do my side hustle of collecting and charging electric scooters.
As I drove through the city, I saw much that made me grateful for so much in my life.
I saw homeless people coming out of their tents. I am grateful for the house I live in, and my bed.
I saw the homeless standing in line to get some food and coffee. I am grateful for my coffee maker and refrigerator full of food.
I saw so many people all alone. I am grateful for my partner.
Often, we are so busy we forget to take time and look at all the good around us and in our lives. To take inventory of the positive things and consciously be grateful.
I started a gratitude practice several years ago to help pull myself out of the negativity that surrounded me. When we are angry, bitter, or wallowing in self-pity or self-hate, and just generally unhappy, it brings us down. That negative energy saps us of our strength. It is a vicious cycle that is hard to break.
I started to journal more, to get things out of my head and on paper. It helped some, but I noticed a trend, much of what I wrote was negative. I was getting it out, but I was still dwelling on the negative things that were around me. I then read an article about the benefits of a gratitude journal. It changes your focus from all the bad stuff and has you refocus on the good in your life.
The article challenged me to write down three things I was grateful for a day, for 30 days. At first it was actually pretty easy, I wrote things like, I am grateful for having enough to eat, I am grateful for friends, I am grateful for my family, I am grateful to be alive, etc. But there was a catch to the challenge, don’t repeat any of the gratitude items on your list for the 30 days. After about three days I really had to start thinking and looking around for things I was grateful for.
I thought about what was really important to me and I realized it was the people in my life. I started listing them by name, three a day. This not only made me consciously think about them, it also got me thinking about why I was grateful for them, what they brought to my life, and how much they really meant to me.
As the month progressed, I began to feel happier, I had more energy, more joy, more peace. I felt calmer and less stressed. There was still negative around me but it was no longer my focus.
An unintended result from this exercise was that I discovered people in my life that I couldn’t add to my grateful list. They were contributing to the negativity, and it caused me to realize I needed to move and create some distance between us.
I don’t generally write in my gratitude journal anymore, but I do pick one person or thing in the morning, that I am grateful for and try and be mindful of them/it all day. Then, before I go to sleep, I think of one thing that happened, or a person I encountered that I am grateful for. Just doing this helps recenter me on the positive in my life, no matter what is going on in the world.
Today I encourage you to take some time and contemplate what you have to be grateful for in your life.
If you are up for it, take the 30-day challenge and write down three different things you are grateful for each day. Dig deep and find those people and little things you take for granted on a daily basis. I would love to hear what you are grateful for. Send an email to: rdh2media@gmail.com.
