How to Create a Sustainable Gratitude Practice
“Look back and be grateful,
Look ahead and be hopeful,
Look around and be helpful.”
-Anonymous
Gratitude may be the best attitude but creating a gratitude practice is how you initiate, instigate, and cultivate that attitude in order to truly reap the benefits (read: improving your happiness and quality of life).
Here’s the truth about gratitude: it is unrestricted by time. You can be grateful for what has happened in the past, what is happening now, and what will happen in the future all at once: in the present (you know, the gift of the present?).
I think most of us understand just how incredibly powerful gratitude is and how strong a correlation it has to our ability to experience happiness. BUT the ability to create a truly consistent gratitude practice can often seem illusive.
In reality, it’s very simple. Like most habits, cultivating an attitude of gratitude is done successfully by implementing small steps on a daily basis for about 30 days -- the time it takes to form any long-lasting habit. It involves conscious, purposeful choice (like most things).
Here are four simple ways you can move from the WHY of gratitude to the HOW:
#1 Stay Grounded
Develop daily rituals and practices that help you stay centered in spite of and in the midst of any emotional upsets. These rituals can and should include: meditation, body movement, journaling, and earthing. Why? Because getting grounded into your body gives you the energy to keep your high vibe. It helps you stay connected to yourself, the Earth and your higher Source. You’re able to live more in the present moment. From this place it's easier to deal with what is, has been and may be.
Accepting life’s challenges with ease and grace starts with being firmly rooted in the HERE AND NOW. From this place, it's much easier to lean on your Source and all the ancient wisdom that lives within.
Bottom Line: If you only choose one of these daily activities, choose to journal. When it comes to gratitude, writing out gratitude lists and reciting gratitude affirmations is great for breaking out of limited thinking and old thought patterns. Keeping the journal as a reminder of what you’ve been through and overcome makes it an important resource for times when you need an extra dose of encouragement.
#2 Stay Committed to the Good You Can’t See (Yet)
Believing in your success before you can see it is a powerful place to live! It breeds trust, faith and confidence. It lays the groundwork for building unshakeable resilience and determination. It means having a deep understanding that your desires will eventually unfold and while you can’t control how they do (that knowledge would take all the fun out of it), you can appreciate the process no matter what it looks like.
To do this, you must commit to not throwing “resistance” on your trail, so to speak, by questioning, doubting, hurrying, and/or resenting whatever journey the Universe is taking you on to get there. You can acknowledge those thoughts and feelings without entertaining them as ideas for too long. Keep moving toward your good with a grateful understanding and appreciation of what is to come.
Bottom Line: Be thankful for what is to come by writing about it as if it had already happened. “Today I am grateful because… “ and then switch the tense. If you desire a promotion at work, for instance, write: “Today I am grateful because of the promotion I received! Long-awaited and much-deserved, I am grateful for new opportunities to serve and provide for those I love and those around me.” The key is to not just write the words - but also generate the “feeling/emotion” of it AS IF it really already happened. You’ll be amazed at how this improves your outlook on life! (especially since your body and subconscious doesn’t know the difference)
#3 Stay Divinely Inspired
Your passion, motivation and creativity are the alchemy to attract the perfect situations, people and circumstances into your life. Energy flows where attention goes so intentionally generate these energies into your life on a daily basis. By staying motivated and inspired to create the things you love most, abundance has no choice but to expand and grow around you. Hold no expectations of what it “should” look like. Just be open to receive the desires of your heart and maintain a light-hearted curiosity as life unfolds. Be open to the idea of good things happening without you having to “effort” so hard to make it happen.
AFFIRMATION: I am receiving. I am receiving now. I am receiving all of the abundance and goodness that the Universe has for me now. Nothing but the best for me now and always. And so it is.
Bottom Line: Practice a visualization technique where you imagine negative thoughts and feelings as clouds passing by on a windy day. Be still -- just a for a few moments -- take three deep 5-second inhale breaths each followed by 5-second exhales. Close your eyes, continue to feel your breath as you intentionally slow your breathing, and imagine negative, doubting thoughts and feelings as clouds blowing through the sky on a windy day. This allows you to acknowledge the presence of these thoughts and feelings without validating them and also see them for what they really are: thoughts and ideas passing through. You can watch them blow by until they are out of sight entirely.
#4 Trust in the Higher Plan
Without even knowing “how” you’ll get there, know that you will. This is an opportunity to deepen the feminine principle of being open to receive. Here, qualities like intuition and patience work together to improve your current circumstances instantly. It’s also helpful to have more trust in your abilities and access to resources to make anything happen. When you can live from this place of not being able to see the higher perspective while knowing it is both present and at work, you have more access to clarity and contentment. To work this, you must both take action AND trust that as you take each step, the next step will be revealed. Ask for guidance. Be flexible. Flow with change. As you move forward, you signal to the Universe to keep moving with you. One affirmation I recite to remind me of this is: “The long arm of God reaches out over people and conditions controlling this situation and protecting my interests - ALWAYS.”
Bottom line: Strong people CHOOSE to exchange self-pity and negative emotion for gratitude. Whether you choose to write a few sentences in a gratitude journal or simply take a moment to silently acknowledge all that you have, giving thanks can transform your life. Developing an “attitude of gratitude” is one of the simplest ways to improve your satisfaction with life -- and it can be found with a gratitude practice.
