Make Gratitude Part of Daily Life
Most of us associate gratitude with Thanksgiving. But it’s a year-round, daily practice. And when we embrace this consciousness it transforms the way we move through the world. It also helps ground our well-being on numerous levels – mind, body and soul.
According to Conscious Lifestyle Magazine, “in a 2007 study that speaks to the benefits of gratitude, patients with hypertension were made to count their blessings once a week. Results showed a significant decrease in their systolic blood pressure. This gratitude research also discovered that writing in a gratitude journal (often) can reduce blood pressure by 10%.
Now you might think we’re dealing with a global pandemic, and so many are struggling. How can I make space for thankfulness in the midst of such chaos? Periods of challenge are often our greatest teachers. We are stretched beyond the familiar, and growth can emerge.
While it’s wonderful to see our blessings on paper, authentic gratitude goes beyond creating a list; it is an invitation to walk into an expanded awareness, honoring the sacredness of life, moment by moment.
Let’s get into two ways you can anchor yourself with this heart-centered practice:
Gratitude Meditation & Reflection: Begin by preparing your space for meditation: make sure it is free of external noise, reach for our Calm Anxiety Ritual Box , your favorite essential oils, or other elements like music (meditation-based) which help you remain grounded.
Pick up a pen and your journal. Choose one blessing you would like to focus on during this meditation and answer these questions – How does it enrich my life? Be specific. Does the blessing expand your capacity for greater love, compassion and understanding? How does it make you feel: physically, spiritually, emotionally? Does the blessing connect you to community, or yourself in ways that liberate or replenish you?
Often, we say we are thankful without delving deeper to explore why, and yet this is an essential piece of honoring this practice, making it a tangible piece of our wellness.
After you have journaled your responses, close your eyes. Connect to the breath.
Thank the Divine for this gift and visualize your blessing as a ray of light coming towards you, enveloping you in boundless love.
Allow your mind to return to what you have written. Notice what words come back to your memory, and honor them by either saying them aloud, or give thanks internaly.
Sit as long as you feel lead, rising and falling with each breath. Appreciate the gifts of presence, and joy.
Affirm Your Blessings: Our words carry weight and can either uplift us or keep the mind stagnant. Affirmations are tools for pivoting mentally, particularly during periods of unease and difficulty.
May we root ourselves in gratitude with these affirmations:
I am thankful for each experience, even challenges open my mind to renewed ways of seeing myself and others around me.
I awaken to pockets of blessings around me: the melody of laughter, conversations with friends, and give thanks now and in the days ahead.
As writer Melody Beattie once said: “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.”
Talk to us in the Comments: Is gratitude a regular practice for you? Do you see it as part of wellness? Share your thoughts!
