Living with gratitude
What does living with gratitude mean to you? Do you remember the last time you felt gratitude? How did that make you feel? Did you feel warmth in your heart? Did that pass on to those around you?
Sometimes we may forget to be grateful. It’s easy to keep our mind constantly thinking of what we have to do next. Where we have to be next. Who we need to see next. It can be more difficult to stop. Take a deep breath. Just be. In stopping momentarily we can more easily see the good things in our life. When we do that the interesting thing is that those around us can “feel” our gratitude and respond with a positivity that they then carry forward. And so on. It’s really an amazing thing.
I haven’t been grateful all the time. I haven’t stopped, taken a deep breath and been present. I’ve checked my calendar and email and raced from one place, one thing to the next. You know what? I didn’t like that feeling. Sometimes anger and resentment crept in. I would question myself for not being a more thoughtful person. I reached a point where I finally stopped, took a deep breath and thought deeply about the person I wanted to be. I needed to not take things or people for granted. I wanted to be mindful of living with gratitude every day.
This past May I started writing in a journal every morning and every evening. This journal is called The Five Minute Journal. How appropriate! I had the opportunity to listen to the creator of this book, UJ Ramdas, at the Bulletproof Biohacking Conference I attended this past Fall. He has an amazing story, the least of which he is alive to tell us about it. The short version is that he was in a terrible motorcycle accident that nearly took his life. He survived with the help of a complete stranger and has been grateful ever since.
I won’t go into too much detail how great this journal is (and how living with gratitude can improve your health) but you can see an image of it on my Facebook page or go to Amazon. I will say though how easy it is to do with its format. Here is how it looks starting each day with a different quote.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit”. ~ Aristotle
I am grateful for…
1.)
2.)
3.)
What would make today great?
1.)
2.)
3.)
Daily affirmations. I am…
_____________________
3 Amazing things that happened today…
1.)
2.)
3.)
How could I have made today better?
______________________________
This Thanksgiving how will you spend it? Maybe with family and friends. Maybe you will be volunteering at a Mission or with the Salvation Army. However you will be spending it, will you feel truly grateful? Grateful for your heath. Grateful for family and friends. Grateful for the food you enjoy. Grateful for given the choice to live how you want to live. Grateful.
I am grateful for you, for those reading my newsletters. I am hopeful that these words will resonate with you, help you in some way, and will be part of your journey.
Enjoy Thanksgiving and be grateful.
To your journey,
Lisa Schaffer
GreenNote Fitness
