How often do you sit and think about “how thankful” you are? How often do you look in the mirror and think about how far you’ve come? If you’re anything like me, it doesn’t happen often. Yet, I’m on a journey to change that. I’ve committed to taking more time to reflect on how thankful I am, to reflect on this year alone, and most importantly to reflect on how merciful God has been to me!
Practicing Gratitude is “simply a great habit to cultivate that demands little but gives much back.” While, it has its benefits, mentally – it also has physical benefits. But…
Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity… it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
– Melody Beattie
- Can I be frank, for a minute? It’s the “gratitude turns what we have into enough for me”. With that, here are my personal reasons I will be more proactive with practicing gratitude.
- Gives me space pause and appreciate, my now. Truth is, I have a habit of looking so far ahead at where I want to be, that I rarely appreciate my now and everything I have already accomplished.
- Gives me space to be a better friend. While I think I am already a great friend, I do think there are some things I can take for granted. I’ve been blessed with an amazing group of friends – from different areas of life – and at times I can become overly focused with work and overly focused on self, that I forget to do little things like telling them how much I really appreciate and love them!
- Gives me space to sleep better. Over the past few months, I’ve had weeks where I couldn’t sleep. At the moment, I wasn’t clear on why. Then I realized, I was taking work to sleep with me. I was taking everything that happened and that didn’t happen to sleep with me and my brain wasn’t shutting down. Now, I’m just thankful to get through the day and that’s enough for me.
- Gives me space to adopt a more positive outlook. Practicing an attitude of gratitude makes me focus on what I have and it being enough for me, in this moment. I already believe that God supplies me with all need, but I can admit I can get caught up on my wants.
As I am adopting an attitude of gratitude, I’m making a oath to declare the following affirmations daily:
- I am thankful for my life and everything and everyone I have in it.
- I gratefully receive the lessons that each experience brings.
- I am grateful for my sense of gratitude – I know it is the way to joy, peace, and the life of my dreams.
- I am thankful for my unique creativity and my capacity to enrich other people’s lives.
- I appreciate my strength and resilience. I know I can survive and thrive.
- I have enough.
- I’ve accomplished enough.
- I am enough.