Gratitude. What are you thankful for?

What are you thankful for? Does it all just boil down to the things you have like your house, cars, bags, shoes, and so on? Or is there more? Like appreciating the sun and the moon, a breath of fresh air, freedom (in all its aspects), the food we eat, the roof over our heads, our kids, family, and friends that actually care and check in with us daily.

I think that the feeling of gratitude is different for everyone. As much as we may try to tell someone that we should be grateful for what we think is appropriate, each individual still gets to decide for themselves what they feel grateful for.

We were all raised differently, which means that we all had different things, different types of houses, parents, and siblings. And some may not have had any of that. So, we will always be grateful for different things, because we are ALL very different.

The main point of this blog is to make sure that you don’t forget to be grateful for what you have and to never take anything for granted. We’ve all heard the term, “taking things for granted” and we often do just that! We forget when we wake up in the morning that there are others who did not wake up this morning. Then we quickly go and make a cup of tea or pot of coffee, forgetting how some don’t have that basic luxury. We wake up in the morning to a house full of people, forgetting that some don’t have anyone else to be with or talk to in the morning.

We forget how we have a nice comfortable bed, hot shower, clean clothes to wear, breakfast to eat, job to go to, money to spend, while some people don’t have any of this. I realize that some of these people may have made that choice, but others have not chosen to be in that situation. We should not forget to be grateful for those few basic things. If those were taken away from us, we would really miss them.

So often we think that we are unlucky because we don’t have a house on three acres of land, Bentleys to drive, and Black credit cards for spending. But then we forget the basics that I brought up earlier. We are looking at what we don’t have, instead of what we do have but take for granted.

How hard is it to be grateful for all the things we have? We really should not forget to be grateful for the little things in our life. Have you ever kept a gratitude journal? Some may not know what this is (I have met a few that didn’t).  How hard would it be for you to write down 25 things that you are grateful for right now, today? This is what the journal is for… to spend three to five minutes a day writing down what you are grateful for. (I have created a Gratitude Journal in a way that has worked greatly for me, here is link as it is available on Amazon https://a.co/d/7tgTlbx )

You can either do it in the morning, or at night. I find doing it at night more efficient as you get to review your whole day and write everything down. If you have been keeping a gratitude journal then you know how it works. If you never have, you should start today. Honestly, once you start keeping a gratitude journal you will see how things change around you, like magic!

From my own experience, I know easy it sometimes is with a daily life happening around you to forget and not write in your gratitude journal. And I know that it may be hard getting used to this in the first few days, but do not give up. Keeping a daily gratitude journal will bring a lot of things to your awareness. It will make you realize how much you have and how appreciative you are of all the great things in your life. Start with a few things and then gradually increase the items on your list. Once you start, you will see how easily flows. From five things you will find 10 more and then 15 and soon you will have 25!

This is what I did. I started writing in my gratitude journal, and the first week I literally had some of the same things repeating with maybe one or two things changing. But the more I kept at it, the more I saw that I had so much more to be grateful for. So, instead of 10 things I wrote 12, then 14 and then eventually 25! I was excited, just thinking how just two months ago I could not even think of 10 things to be grateful for.

Remember to go down your list of the most important things, the ones we do take for granted. Don’t skip those important things. You will see those make more sense, and this will help you feel grounded.

We all need this in our life, trust me! When you have more gratitude in your heart, you become more aware of the positive and good around you and feel less negativity and negative energy sneaking up on you. You stop noticing all the nagging, angry, jealous people, the haters. And seriously, all the negative just passes you by. You get to enjoy a happier, more productive life.

Embrace being grateful everyday…