Fall is my favorite time of year for many reasons: I love sweater weather, football, pumpkin spice everything AND all the fun holidays! Oh, and candy corn… I love candy corn:)
I also love that during the fall you have the reminder of “gratitude.”
What I love about the idea of gratitude is that it gets us to focus on the “good things” in life, versus all the negative.
In a world surrounded by negative issues and problems, our thoughts can be engrossed by all the adversity that faces us each day. It’s easy to become anxious and overwhelmed. We can get so pre-occupied with what is wrong in the world, or what may make our lives better…that we forget those small and simple joys that bless us everyday.
So my message to you is, keep a gratitude journal. Whether it be in a planner, on a notepad, verbally spoken out loud everyday, on a post-it, in your phone etc. It’s amazing what happens when we re-wire our brain to think positive, to remember gratitude in life.
There are numerous scholarly articles and studies out there that prove just how crucial practicing gratitude is.
If you talk to any therapist or counselor, they will always bring up the importance of gratitude in life.
The act of expressing gratitude daily is not only healthy for our brains, but for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health.
So from here…I will challenge you to take time everyday to write 3 things your grateful for. Make a rule that you can’t keep repeating the same ones. Many of us are grateful for our family, and friends, home, etc. But what about those little things we forget about?
I have written down simple things I’m grateful for, like a camera on my phone to keep track of memories, or a hot shower everyday, or even a beating heart that keeps me alive and well.
I think we would all be amazed at the long…constant list of blessings and joys we have in our life when we focus on gratitude.
So despite all the strife, and and problems that we go head-to-head with everyday, hopefully we can think beyond the negativity and find the light. Hopefully we can find the happiness and the blessings each day gives us by thinking about what we have to be grateful for.
I will be working on this gratitude challenge with you and I hope it can be a great help to you as you tackle the hills and valleys of life.
Until next time,
xoxo
Christy Lee