Gratitude and how it changes us
With Valentine's Day just around the corner, it felt like a good time to talk about how kindness towards others and adopting a gratitude practice – the act of reflecting on what is positive in our lives – can change our day. I’ve always thought about practicing gratitude as this sort of mind shift that we can create. It’s a powerful thing – the ability to change the way you think about your day. It’s like this strategy that you can use that can make your day just a little bit different, regardless of what you may be facing.
Now that’s not to say that it will work for everyone. And if it’s something that you only use in the bad moments of life, it may not work if you pull it out only in the crucial moments. But building a habit of noticing, naming and even writing things about your day that are positive can be a practice that can allow you to have some moments of calm and appreciation even when it’s a very stormy day.
They can be simple observations as you go about your day. Like on the drive to work this morning, I noticed in the distance that I could see Britannia Beach up ahead, with a beautiful sky with the hint of pink where the sun was rising. I felt renewed, energized, inspired. I like the idea of a gratitude jar and writing one thing a day to add to it about what was great about today. My son and I have this habit of each reflecting on “what was your favorite part”, about the day, about an activity or a visit with family. I think of this as his own e way of bringing gratitude into his day – something he learned from Dora the Explorer, but nonetheless, a good lesson in taking a moment to reflect on the good. One of the most popular gratitude techniques you’ll hear is to keep a gratitude journal and write three things that you were grateful for that day.
It really doesn’t matter what you do, but the act of noticing and naming it is what begins to change things about how you approach and look at your day. You may start to notice that you’re trying to find the good in your day, notice those little things that you may not have paid attention to before, notice the things you appreciated and the moments you felt loved and recognized by others.
The other powerful thing that ties in well is kindness and what I would describe as connecting with someone on a human level. I’ve found that selfless acts of kindness can shift your thinking as well, and the truth is sometimes these acts of kindness can also change someone else’s day. They may be simple things like giving a compliment to a stranger, buying a coffee for someone just because you want to, or doing something kind for a friend going through a really tough time. Regardless of what it is, the truth is that kindness is about creating good, even if it is something that can seem so small. And by helping people find more good in their days, it all comes full circle, even if it is only little things that can be found, there is more to be thankful for in the day.
