How to Start a Gratitude Practice
The beginning of the year is a GREAT time to start a gratitude practice. I have held an active daily gratitude practice for over 2.5 years now, and it has been a huge blessing to my life. Starting the new year with a fresh gratitude practice can help you get the most out of this year and become your best self.
There are a ton of great benefits of keeping a gratitude practice, spiritually, psychologically, in relationships, physically, and in your professional success.
Spiritual Benefits: Helps you connect with your higher self and spirit, and it opens the flow of blessings in your life.
Mental Health & Psychological: Increases happiness, reduces stress, helps overcome depressions, increases resiliency and positivity.
Physical Benefits: Better sleep, reduces pain, supports immune functions, strengthens cardiovascular health, lowers blood pressure.
Relationship Benefits: Improves relationships, reduces conflict, increases empathy, reduces aggression, helps you become a better manager/leader.
Financial/Success Benefits: Gets you into the flow of Divine Abundance, opens you up to receiving your own blessings.
A recent experience I had with gratitude helping me receive my own abundance: I bought a cleaning product on Amazon that worked really well. It was to clean my notoriously difficult to clean stovetop, and it got it looking brand new. I couldn’t believe it! I remembered back to an exercise from a Chinese 5-Energies course I took, which had said to leave positive reviews on things, for no other reason than helping out another business owner. So I did.
I left the review with no expectations of anything back, and was just doing it for good karma and to help out another business. (The product was so good, it had literally thousands of raving reviews, but I wanted to add my anyway, if just for the exercise of it.)
And once I submitted it, the review put me past the threshold of numbers of reviews I needed to qualify for the Amazon Vine program, where they send you free items in exchange for reviews. I couldn’t believe it! I didn’t know Amazon kept track of my reviews, and had never heard of the Vine program. But here I am getting a ton of free stuff just because I thought to write a review for no other reason than I was grateful for the product that cleaned my stovetop so well!
It’s amazing how your abundance can flow to and through you when you’re aligned!
But how do you actually start and keep a gratitude practice? Surprisingly, there are lots of options, and it can look different for different people based on their needs and what season of life they’re in at the moment. If you pick one, you can always change to another, and keep an ongoing practice that’s right for you. Read the practice variations below and find one that’s a good fit for your life and needs right now, and watch your blessings blossom this year!
Types of Gratitude Practices:
3 THINGS A DAY
Write or think about three things you’re grateful for each morning. It’s as simple as that.
This is a great practice to start with because it’s short and sweet. Maybe you write it in your daily planner, or you set a timer on your phone to think about three things at the start of your day.
You can also try this at the end of your day as a part of your bedtime routine. If you already journal in the evening, add this to the start of your journal entry. Or think about the things you’re grateful for as you drift off to sleep once the lights are out.
The beauty of this practice is its simplicity. You really can’t do it wrong, but bringing some intention to finding things to be grateful for is a great habit to create.
DEDICATED GRATITUDE JOURNAL
What Another option is to have a small journal that’s dedicated specifically to your daily gratitude list. This is the method that I use, and I’ve gone through a handful of small books through the years. There are plenty of little pocket size notebooks you can find, and I like to fill a page with a list of what I’m grateful for, which usually is about 18-20 things.
Another variation I like to use is to start with a list of 20 or so things I’m grateful for on the left page. I write the date and “I am grateful for…” at the top of the page and fill it up. The on the right page, I write at the top “I desire…” and fill that page will all the things I want to manifest (about 18-20 things).
This is a great method because you get filled with gratitude for the first half of the exercise, and once your mind and heart are in that expansive state, then you can pour that energy into creating what you want.
NEVER REPEAT METHOD
Another great option is to come up with 1-3 NEW things you’re grateful for each day. You’ll start with all the basics, but over time you’ll run out of the usual things like “health, family” etc.
And then you’re forced to pay more attention to the present moment throughout the day. I really appreciated the sounds of the birds chirping as I walked through the park. I really enjoyed the cop of coffee made JUST how i like it. I’m so grateful for the phone conversation I had with my grandmother today.
You bring more awareness to your daily life and the small moments of appreciation within it, and gratitude and noticing becomes a habit.
5x5 METHOD
Think of 5 things you’re grateful, and 5 reasons why for each one.
I’m so grateful for my partner, because:
He’s thoughtful
We laugh together
He cares about me and my experience
He comforted me when I was frustrated this week
He helped me with the hard project today.
Then another 4 things with 5 reasons why. This helps really anchor in the feeling of gratitude more than just listing the thing. It makes your brain go through the reasons, and then it increases the feeling in your heart.
GRATITUDE PARTNER
Do you know those people who get together each week and just bitch about their week/jobs/husbands/neighbors? No matter how much they get together and complain about it, their lives never seem to get better.
The pessimists in the world are abundant, and there’s a reason misery loves company. But having a gratitude partner can be your chance to do just the opposite. It’s you’re chance to add to the good things in your life, bear witness to the good things happening for others, and enhance everyone’s experience.
Maybe you start a circle in your spiritual community to share what you’re grateful for over coffee and donuts before service in the fellowship hall.
Maybe you have a friend group that meets on zoom on friday evenings to share what you’re grateful for over wine and laughter.
Maybe you find a single person to text each morning what gratitude you’re starting your day with that day.
The accountability of sharing gratitude, combined with the social connection of community and coming together in appreciation will make you feel better, and also start to collaborately add to the energy of manifesting.
How do you want to start your gratitude practice? What would you like to build up to?
There are countless other ways to infuse gratitude into your life:
I keep notes of gratitude posted around my home.
I have a couple of shirts that I like to wear that are about gratitude.
I write thank you notes and letters.
I leave reviews on things I like.
I do 30 days of gratitude leading up to Thanksgiving where I look up gratitude quotes.
I start and end my morning prayers to the angels or any spiritual activity with thank you (even thanking my pendulum when it shows me answers!).
I listen to spiritual music that has lyrics about gratitude.
It can be infused into every area of your life. If you choose to bring it in, it enriches everything.
My favorite gratitude quote: “It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast.” -W.J. Cameron
And if you’re ready to take a deep dive into why you’re creating a business, who you want to become, and set up a path for you to create the business you want, join me in the “Find Your Passion. Live Your Purpose.” program.
This 6-week course teaches you how to unlock your potential, discover your divine gifts, and reclaim your purpose in life. I walk you through the process of really coming to know yourself and what is driving you in life. You’ll have more clarity and purpose than ever before!
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Hello Lovely, I’m Sarah Byrd
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EMPOWERMENT OBSESSED, ENNEAGRAM 3 (ACHIEVER), MASTER’S IN COUNSELING STUDENT, HUMAN DESIGN PROJECTOR, CAPRIQUARICORN CUSPY BUDDHIST
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