One Simple Act That Will Shift Your Perspective

I've never been good at consistent journaling, especially in free form. Journaling brings a lot of value to my life, but for me, it's difficult to be consistent.

When I started OA meetings, the practice of daily gratitude was introduced and it changed my life in meaningful ways. Instead of sitting down in front of a blank page, feeling a bit overwhelmed or directionless, my task was to simply write down 3 things I was grateful for. They didn't need to be deep, or transformative--it could be as simple as being grateful for an especially yummy cup of coffee, my cat's presence in the room, or the fact that the sun was out and that made me feel happy.

A daily gratitude practice can take many forms. Some of my favorite ideas are to put your daily gratitudes on a Post-It note and put them somewhere that you see them often. Over time you start to amass a visual representation of the things you are grateful for, and that is often a good reminder of how much good you have in your life.

If Post-It notes aren't for you, keeping a journal that is specifically for your daily gratitudes is another great idea. Purchasing a notebook or journal that makes you happy, and keeping you gratitudes there is another way to have a visual representation of the things you are grateful for.

So what is gratitude? Robert Emmons, Ph.D., a world's leading scientific expert on gratitude, and a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis has this to say about gratitude:

"First, it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received. This doesn’t mean that life is perfect; it doesn’t ignore complaints, burdens, and hassles. But when we look at life as a whole, gratitude encourages us to identify some amount of goodness in our life.

The second part of gratitude is figuring out where that goodness comes from. We recognize the sources of this goodness as being outside of ourselves. It didn’t stem from anything we necessarily did ourselves in which we might take pride. We can appreciate positive traits in ourselves, but I think true gratitude involves a humble dependence on others: We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives."

There is so much scientifically backed research that shows how transformative gratitude can be in people's lives as a practice. I want to highlight just a few:

1. Gratitude highlights living in the now and allows us to celebrate the present. It magnifies positive emotions.

2. Gratitude blocks negative emotions, such as envy, resentment, and regret.

3. Gratitude helps us be more resilient. There are many studies that show having a positive and grateful outlook improves recovery when faced with serious trauma, adversity, and suffering.

4. Grateful people have a higher sense of self-worth. When you are grateful, you have a sense that someone is looking out for you, and this allows you to acknowledge and notice your network of support. When you recognize the contributions other people have made to your life, you can see your own value more clearly.

Being grateful doesn't mean that things will be easy, there are absolutely challenges to living in gratitude. The world is not just, and most of what we consume in contemporary culture gives us the opposite messaging of being grateful. We are in large parts, the sum of the stew we live in. Even as an expert in gratitude, Robert Emmons speaks about how cultivating and practicing gratitude in his own life is something that takes a lot of conscious effort practicing.

Becoming a more grateful person, not just acknowledging things you are grateful for takes practice and shifting your mindset. Considering what we can give, rather than what we receive is a very different way of thinking about gratitude, but that is the shift we can make to ultimately be a more grateful person.

My challenge to you is to start today--find a gratitude practice that has meaning in your life. I would love to hear about your individual gratitude practices and how it positively impacts your overall well-being.

Thank you for reading! I hope you have a grateful day :)