The Action of Gratitude

We have cycled around to another holiday season. “Count Your Blessings” is the Thanksgiving motto and Christmas offers “Joy to the World.” It is a season of love and laughter, family and friends.

Unfortunately, society has become obsessed with the negative. Social media, the news, conversations with co-workers often revolve around everything that is wrong in the world. It is easy to get lost in the spiral and hard to pull out to see the positive that is also present. Seeing the positive is the first step in growing the positive so that it can outshine the darkness.

And the Holiday Season is the perfect time to practice gratitude.

But an attitude of gratitude is not enough. It takes ACTIONS of gratitude. Practicing gratitude affects everything else. Acting in the world through the lens of gratitude fills up your cup and those whose lives you touch.

Once my husband was in the grocery store with our son, he told him smiles are contagious and then tested the theory. Everyone they smiled at smiled back. Gratitude is also contagious. The more we are grateful, the more those around us see the blessings in their lives, too.

So how do you cultivate gratitude in your every day? Here are 5 strategies:

• Gratitude Journal
  • Begin or finish each day by writing in a journal. Write a minimum of three things you are grateful for that day. Big or small. Are you grateful for the ability to make your bed or that you survived a car accident? Both build the habit of gratitude equally.
• Set an Alarm
  • Use your smartphone to set 5 or more alarms throughout the day. Each time the alarm goes off, pause for a minute to think of something you are grateful for in your life. Again, big or small, gratitude is gratitude.
• Post-It in Bathroom
  • On your bathroom mirror, steering wheel, or any commonplace, post a sticky note with the question, “What are you grateful for today?” You want this note to be noticeable, so you look at it every day and answer the question.
• Ritual
  • Create a ritual around a certain event in the day in which you give thanks. Brushing your teeth or eating a meal. Our family regularly shares our gratitude at dinner in a round-robin style.
• Share Thanks
  • Give your thanks to others. Has someone helped you that day? Send a thank you email. Did a colleague help you out of a sticky spot? Let them know you appreciate them. Or simply, send a note to someone that says, “Just a little note to say I am grateful for you.”

The next first step is to incorporate one or more of these into your day. With practice, gratitude becomes habitual and then cascades into the lives of those around you. It all begins with the first spark.