When I was seven months pregnant and dealing with a huge lifestyle transition, my husband told me we had to possibly move to California. I remember feeling numb. After roughly ten years together, I was about to bring our first baby into the world. We finally had family in the state, I built a career in Miami and now I had to start over. 3,000 miles away no less! For a few days, I could not do anything but cry. Cry and feel sorry for myself. It was a tad bit hormonally charged, but 100% warranted. Anyway, the following month we took a two-week trip west and I absolutely fell in love with Northern California. I mean, what isn’t to love? Napa? The beaches? The big old Redwood Trees? Well, I will tell you what’s not to love is being 3,000 miles away from family. Fortunately, I have always been a glass-half-full type of gal. I went through a lot growing up, some of the tough time spanned years, but we have come out the other side better and stronger than before!
The past few months have been a whirlwind with a newborn. We packed up our house two weeks ago, we have been shuffling back and forth from my in-laws to other places around Florida and I think there were times when I could have easily crawled into a ball and shut it down; however, I didn’t. Around the time of the move, I focused harder on my gratitude practice. Something I, unfortunately, let fall to the wayside this year. Cory and I used the 5 Minute Journal for some time and I think it is such a great tool because it has a way of sparking conversation and making gratitude second nature.
Because time with a newborn is limited, I have found other, less formal ways to practice gratitude and as this is the season of giving thanks, I wanted to share easy ways for you to kickstart your own gratitude practice. A gratitude practice is a simple act of feeling grateful for the gifts in your life. A gratitude practice enables you to take in and savor those good things. Now we are not talking about anything grandiose. You can be grateful for something as simple as shoelaces or the lack of a line at Starbucks. There is so much we take for grateful for in our everyday lives that often go overlooked.
Here a few ways to kickstart your gratitude practice today:
Purchase a 5 Minute Journal or Download the App: As stated above, the 5 Minute Journal is such a great tool and it is a great resource to look back on. I love using it with my partner because it sparks important conversation and more often than not a gratitude for each other through the good times and bad.
Start every shower saying three things you are grateful for out loud: Hopefully you get a shower every day. I do my best thinking in the shower LOL. So I really think it is a great place to take a few deep breaths and start your gratitude practice. Such an easy habit to pick up!
Choose a day of the week with your family and on that day choose 3 things you are grateful for that week and hang it so that everyone can see it.
Practice as a family: At the dinner table or before bed, have everyone go around the table and share 3 things they are grateful for every day.
Choose someone daily and thank them for impacting your life in a specific way. For example, I can call my mother and say: “Thank you for coming down to watch the baby while I worked last week. I know that he is in good hands when he is with you and I love that you love and kiss him like he is your own.”
Routinely and consciously replace negative thoughts with positive grateful ones.
Volunteer: One way to continually humble yourself and find gratitude is to volunteer for the less fortunate. Volunteering can help you have an intense gratitude for all of the simple blessings in your life.
Practice Mindfulness: Last week I blogged about Mindfulness and the importance of being present. As I write this, I had to put my son on my lap, turn on Baby Einstein and then take a little break to smell is head and watch him as he intensely took in the bring colors and sounds. It took all of three minutes, but I find myself throwing the phone or putting down work more and more to be in the moment with him.
Be Grateful for the Challenges: Look back on the tough times in your life. Did they make you stronger? Probably! The tough times really don’t last. So when you get past the tough times find gratitude in the way they challenged you and be grateful for how they pushed you and forced you to grow!
Start a friendly gratitude text chain: How many text chains are on your phone right now? Probably a lot! Chose some family and friends that are like-minded and see if they want to start a gratitude chain. Decide how often you are going to share what you are grateful for. Whether it is once a day or once a month it will offer you a little circle of gratitude. You may be surprised at how grateful
people are for things you may take for granted!
