That’s right: start your day with gratitude, end your day with gratitude.  I do this every day.  In my morning meditation, I ask the sacred question: what am I truly grateful for?  At night, just as I snuggle into bed, I love to use the Check In on my Insight Timer app to guide me through my gratitude (just before I select a guided meditation before falling asleep).

Why cultivate gratitude?

According to Cambridge Dictionary, gratitude is the, “strong feeling of appreciation to someone or something.”  Gratitude is a powerful influencer in our happiness and mental wellness.  Mental Health FIRST AID states that a single act of thoughtful gratitude produces an immediate 10% increase in happiness, and a 35% reduction in depressive symptoms. Not only that, but gratitude can lessen daily anxiety and improve sleep quality.

That’s great, but how often do I need to be grateful?

Well, the first reply I have to that is:  why not be grateful ALL the time?  Why not do something every day that warms your heart with happiness and brings a soft relaxation to your body.  It feels good, so shouldn’t we be asking why we aren’t we being appreciative more of the time?  Honestly, one time will benefit you in that moment, but day after day of visiting the things you appreciate in your life creates a deeper appreciation and understanding of who you are and what you have.  It brings awareness to all that you really do have.   

Each day’s gratitude list may vary from the day before, but the core is usually the same.  You reflect on your day with a tender heart, holding close those people and things that bring light into your life (which could be as a simple as the bed you sleep in and the clean water and food you have to eat).  

I love to touch on gratitude in the morning since it tends to be more general involving the fact that we are alive at all and that we are given what we need to stay alive.  Before I even get out of bed in the morning, I have already explored my morning appreciation musings.  There are days that go by with the hustle and bustle of day to day life where I don’t pause to appreciate the happenings around me during the day.  Yet, there are other days where in the moment I relish in appreciation for what I see, feel, do, and have.  By bedtime, I will flow gratitude to my day.  Like I mentioned, I love to use the Check In from the Insight Timer app. You click on the things that influenced you to feel how you are feeling in the now.

But, it’s not just making a list!

Not only do I click the button for family, I truly feel that appreciation.  I feel the love for my daughter and how lucky I am to have such an amazing kid.  I may envision the laughs we had that day, something we did together, or a hug we shared.  It’s not just a thought.   Every cell in my body celebrates my daughter being in my life, the love I receive from my chihuahuas, or the dinner I shared with my parents.  The relationship button is always my love of Self!  How appreciative I am to be me and to know that connecting to my highest Self is a part of each and every day.  I love how the app fuels the process of gratitude.  The bottom buttons focus more on the feels, such as I am so excited to share my thoughts of gratitude with you!  

Find your own ritual!

Find a way to incorporate gratitude into your day.  Start small.  Maybe just open your eyes and whisper to yourself how appreciative you are to be here with a beating heart.  Start holding that moment of space for thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation.  It won’t take long before you start adding to that list.  Then, maybe start that same process at night as you get into bed with the awareness of gratitude for your cozy bed and cushy pillow.  Once you hold the space, you can start extending that time bit by bit to reflect on all the appreciation for that day.

Let’s take it just a little further!

Now that the end of the year is coming, we enter into another ending and transition into a new beginning.  With 2023 coming to an end, I invite you to find some appreciation for all that is good, positive, and helpful in your life.  I am a firm believer that life happens for us.  Take time to really inventory all the good that came to you this year, even if from the less than ideal situations.  If we can see the past from a positive perspective, we change how we feel about it.  The higher our vibrations are leaving 2023, the higher our vibrations are to start 2024.  

As the New Year approaches, really touch those feelings of gratitude.  Let what brings you happiness fill your cup, experience the joy of every day life, and bring your attention to the things that are working well.  Close your eyes and really FEEL the happiness, joy, and appreciation.  Allow yourself to let go of the heavier and lower vibrating things and thoughts.  You do get to choose where you put your attention.  And, as you may know, where attention goes, energy flows.  

My warmest wishes…

May your heart fill with the love of gratitude.  My heart is overfilling with love for my family, my job, my love of Self, those little glimmers in each and every day, and for You!  Yes, You!  I am so glad that you are here with me, reading this, expanding the goodness that you are, and walking into today to make a better tomorrow.  I have so much love for you.  May you and yours have an incredible end to 2023 and a magical beginning to 2024.

Feel free to share what your gratitude practice looks like.  Or maybe this is just the start of your practice and you can share one thing you are grateful for in this moment!

Thank you for visiting IYLC. As always, reach out to learn more about IYLC’s services to help you create a better tomorrow!