I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and is staying warm this winter season! I wanted to bring some light to a topic I am passionate about, gratitude, for this blog post.
Have you ever thought about the power our thought, both positive and negative have on our mind and body? I talk about the power of gratitude journaling in my sessions pretty often. Our positive thoughts are created by us intentionally making note of the positive things around us. Finding gratitude works the same way, by taking note and writing the simple pleasures and noting the small things that happen in our day to day lives can have a great impact on our mood and overall well-being if practiced enough.
No need for a long drawn out journal entry to practice gratitude, I always suggest by starting with one thing you’re grateful for each day, then increasing it to three a day if you’re able to. The power behind this is that even when you’re having a rough day you will be reminded of three things that you’re grateful for outside of the negative things impacting your mood.
The benefits behind practicing gratitude can be better sleep, increased empathy for others, more social connection and improving mental strength and awareness.
Other than gratitude journaling other great ways to practice gratitude is by using a gratitude jar where you can write down things over time, you’re grateful for and store them in the jar. When you’re ready to look back at them you have a jar filled with gratefulness. You can also look up and discover gratitude prompts, some examples of this are… “I am grateful for these family members...” “I am grateful for this place I can visit…” “I am grateful for seeing these three things…”
Taking note of the small things we’re around every day may sound easy, but so many of us forget to slow down and “stop and smell the roses”. By being mindful and taking the time to intentionally think about the things we are happy about and grateful for in our lives, this will give us a powerful outlook in our thoughts and mind. Our mind is rooted in our thoughts which affect our mood and ultimately our behavior. With small changes overtime we can begin to see things from a different perspective shifting our thoughts from a negative outlook to a more positive and peaceful one.
If you struggle to find gratitude and positivity reach out to us and we will help guide you to a more positive outlook . ❤️
