Spring has sprung! I look around at the forsythia, the redbuds, the weeping cherry trees, the azaleas and the dogwoods getting ready to pop, and I take a deep breath, I smile, and I feel my body let go. It reminds me about what is good in the world in general and in my world in particular. And I feel grateful.
For many of us it’s been a long, challenging winter, whether that’s been about our personal affairs, the economy, the environment, the country in general or the world at large. We feel the stress and the fallout of it all, often on a daily basis. We feel afraid, anxious and overwhelmed. Our bodies also feel and respond to the stress – we are tense, get headaches, have knots in our stomach, perhaps experience free-floating anxiety, sleeplessness – you get the picture. These can
be difficult emotions and sensations to deal with and manage. It becomes difficult to remember to bring attention to what is working when we feel so scared and anxious and overwhelmed. We let our fears and worries run away with us and overtake us.
So how do we keep our heads, our balance, our health, some sense of inner peace through it all, especially when we don’t see an obvious end in sight? Practicing gratitude is a very positive and powerful tool that can help us create balance and perspective and some sense of inner peace. It helps us remember what is good, what is working in our lives. When we take time to pay attention to what is positive and what is working, we are practicing gratitude. When we do that, we calm down. We feel safer, happier, and more at peace. And our body relaxes and calms down too.
I read a wonderful definition of gratitude in a book by Timothy Miller called “How to Want What You Have.” He describes gratitude as “the effort to savor, appreciate, and be thankful for the small, nice experiences that come your way.” Those experiences are available to us, in abundance, every day.
When we practice gratitude, it doesn’t necessarily make the bad stuff go away. It simply puts a different slant on things. It takes us out of our entrenchment in the negative. It opens us up. It lightens us up. It gives us some relief. When we practice gratitude, we tend to slow down and take in more breath. Our bodies can open and relax and so can our hearts. Practicing gratitude helps with seeing the glass as half full instead of half empty.
So I offer two suggestions to help you start practicing gratitude in your life. One is to start a gratitude journal. It can be a simple notebook or you can buy a journal that makes you feel good. Ideally, every day for a couple of months (if you can keep yourself at it that long) list five things that you are grateful for about your day. It can be external – sunshine, recognition for a job well done, support from a friend. Or it can be internal, things specifically about yourself – your
courage, your honesty, your energy. After one month, notice what’s different in how you feel about yourself, about your attitude, about life in general. Once you’ve experienced how keeping a gratitude journal can help you shift (hopefully into a lighter and more positive place), use it “as needed” and especially when you are feeling very low or stuck. Even if you struggle with it and it doesn’t feel sincere, do it anyway because if you stick with it, a shift will happen and you will feel some relief. The longer you do this, the easier, more familiar and more natural it becomes.
My second suggestion comes out of Timothy Miller’s book also. He gives a 14 day plan for practicing gratitude. I’m going to put in an adapted 7 day plan and you can add to it or create your own. Doing it this way helps you have a focus for your practice each day, and it helps you stay focused on gratitude throughout the day. It makes your practice very real and very present.
- DAY 1 – Practice gratitude for the food you eat, regardless of whether it is special or routine. (Remember, this about gratitude, not criticism or judgment!)
- DAY 2 – Practice gratitude for the fact that you have a house, an apartment or whatever it is that shelters you. Practice gratitude regarding the comforts it
provides you. - DAY 3 – Practice gratitude for the people who like you or love you. Don’t focus on how many, just that they are there.
- DAY 4 – Practice gratitude for the freedom to go where you want, express your opinions, read what you want, etc.
- DAY 5 – Practice gratitude for whatever good memories you have.
- DAY 6 – Practice gratitude for the sensory pleasures of sight, smell, sound, touch, etc.
- DAY 7 – Practice gratitude for any opportunity you might find for laughter, and practice gratitude for the pleasurable sensation that it brings you.
Remember, gratitude is the intention to count your blessings every day. In these challenging times, attending to what’s difficult as well as what’s good creates balance that makes daily living just a little easier, and perhaps a lot more peaceful. And couldn’t we all use a little of that?