It’s that time of year again – the month of Thanksgiving – in which we have all kinds of gratitude challenges. I’ll confess, that I toyed with the idea of hosting one myself. Please know, I’m not bashing either Thanksgiving or gratitude challenges. It’s just that I want to push for the idea of all year around gratitude. Everyday Gratitude. Every day gratitude. Gratitude not just in November.
Gratitude Not Just In November
Here are simple and practical ideas that we could use to make the gratitude an every day practice:
1. Quiet Time
We live really fast paced lives. Some days, from the moment we wake to the moment we get to bed at night, we are busy. So it makes it important to set aside a few minutes every day to be quiet and reflect. This keeps our minds and our hearts open to gratitude.
2. Think About The Ordinary Blessings
There are so many ordinary blessings that we take for granted, too busy trying to look out for how we can get what we don’t have. What if every day we thought about at least two things that we took for granted. As I’m typing this, I’m thinking of drinking water and hot showers.
3. Be Generous
It’s tempting to be envious of those who have more than us. Discontent, comparison and jealousy are enemies of gratitude. What if we focused on those who are not as well off as we are, and showed our generosity with our belongings and our time?
4. Talk about Gratitude
Talk about gratitude with your friends and love ones. Express gratitude aloud. Ask your friends what they are grateful for. It might be a good way to connect with people on a deeper level.
5. Take Time to Thank
Let your partner, your children, your loved ones that you love them and are grateful for what they bring to your life. You might even want to extend this beyond your circle – to service providers and those who make our life so much easier.
“My predominant feeling is one of gratitude. I have loved and been loved. I have been given much and I have given something in return. Above all, I have been a sentient being, a thinking animal, on this beautiful planet, and that in itself has been an enormous privilege and adventure.”
—Oliver Sacks
The 5 things that I am grateful for this week are:
- My mind and it’s ability to create. Yes, Askhata, I borrowed the idea from you.
- My ability to multi-task, even if I know that my husband is not such a fan of it!
- The possibilities in my life – there’s so much I can do and be.
- Some great blogging resources I’ve tapped into. As also a great group of bloggers at Write Tribe, with a special few who’ve been nothing but supportive of me.
- My husband’s honest feedback – even when it’s hard to swallow at times. He helps me know myself better.
What are you grateful for this week?
Join me and other bloggers every Thursday for the #everydaygratitude link up – to share all you are grateful for from the past week.
You could also join #ThankfulThursdays – a weekly blog link up hosted by Amrita Mishra and Tina Basu.
Image Credits: Shutterstock
True Corinne. We think a lot into the future which is uncertain. Need to be thankful for each day and each sunrise that we see ! And feel grateful for small things and priceless moments each day.
I too believe in being grateful for everything we take for granted.It just makes us more blessed in this life and the next.I am deeply thankful for mentioning us on your gratitude post .It’s always a pleasure participating in all that you arrange at wtite tribe.It’s one of the most real,honest,grounded and above all nice group of people I have been blessed to be in the company of ,even if virtually.
Thank you once again.
I like you posts about gratitude because I believe they are from the heart but I do get so tired of the more trendy gratitude stuff I see all over the web. Some of it feels so shallow and ‘fashionable’ to me. I love your ideas about gratitude though as they feel authentic. This week I am grateful for my ability to change direction and be flexible. I am grateful for my physical and emotional resilience which helps me deal with the massive demands of caring for elders. Thank you.
Just to let you know, I just clicked the ‘posts I might have missed’ link on the right side of this page and it came up with an error message that directed me back to ‘home’. Could be something at my end but thought you should know. The message said ‘there’s something fishy here’ and had a picture of a cartoon style fish.
Those were lovely snippets Corrine – its easy to be disgruntled and whine but taking a moment to be thankful for the little things in life makes a sea of difference. I agree to this and I have personally seen the inner happiness and its reflection on my entire being by practising gratitude
Those are some great way of cultivating gratitude. I know I am one of those people who is constantly on the go and I do value quiet time when I get it. I think even just practising this on a weekly basis to reflect and write about things that I’m grateful for has made me feel a lot better. Because in the end, it’s not the big things…it’s the little day-to-day stuff.
Loved the quote at the end. Yes, Quiet time is something I am grateful for each day.
I like your thoughts on gratitude, because I also believe we need to express it throughout the year and not just suddenly think of it in November. I’m one of those people who enjoys being appreciated, so I try to make sure I show verbal appreciation for people. Sometimes people just need to hear that they are valuable.