Gratitude

Science has shown that gratitude can have a significant positive impact on a person's mental and emotional well-being. Practicing gratitude regularly can help us give each day our best in many ways - reducing anxiety, strengthening relationships, increasing resilience and much more. 

Recently I’ve been mulling around a new-to-me perspective on gratitude that I want to share with you and it’s this: gratitude can only be experienced in the present moment. 

Let’s dig in: I know for sure that we each have something to be grateful for right now that someone else may currently not have: a warm home, jobs/businesses that provide for us financially, health, family and friends that are (generally) safe. We are truly thankful for these things and yet, sometimes we can use those very things to allow shame to creep in. 

For example, when motherhood (or work or a relationship) is hard we can think things like, “I shouldn’t be angry about this, I should be grateful that I am able to be a mother when others struggle.” This is shaming ourselves into being grateful instead of having a healthy practice of holding both: “This is hard AND I am thankful to be a mother.” 

To experience true gratitude in the present, we can take in and appreciate the details of our lives while we’re living them. This could look like saying, “I appreciate you all”  as you close up a work meeting that goes well. It could mean considering each of our five senses while we’re with our family at Thanksgiving to really savor the moment. It could mean taking a break from your packed day to take a walk, feeling grateful for your neighborhood (if you work from home) or that you’re thisclose to good coffee, for example. 

I’ve tried many gratitude practices over the years - listing 10 things each day, starting each morning with three things I’m grateful for - to name a few, and this is one of my new favorites because I get to experience spontaneously and often. 

Would love to hear how YOU’RE practicing gratitude this month.