One simple way to practice gratitude is to keep a Gratitude Journal.
Pick/Open a word doc on your laptop, a pocket notebook, a simple notepad, a post-it on your worktable, a pretty looking diary, or a fancy journal specifically designed to document our gratitude and thanks. Choose the one that is available to you.
The absence of the perfect recording instrument should not deter us from practising gratitude now, should it?
Here are some examples of gratitude journals available at a mere google search for images on gratitude journals. Leaving them here for your inspiration.
As with images, I am sure you will be able to find 1000s of benefits of maintaining a gratitude journal.
So I am going to keep this post very short.
Why do we think it is important to list things we are grateful for, everyday?
So we do not take anything for granted.
If anything, this pandemic has shown us the volatility and impermanence of things and people in our lives.
So ensure you take a few minutes off, preferably at the same time, everyday, to list down the top 10 things you are grateful for.
There are really no rules to this exercise.
List down, without much thinking, all the things you are thankful for.
A cancelled meeting, a smile from a neighbor, an unexpected message from a friend, a nice hair-day, anything goes.
Here is a bucket list for days when you are crunched for time.
When you write down things you are grateful for, you tap into that part of your being which releases hormones similar to when you are engaged in an activity you just love doing. The endorphins.
So being grateful is not just a polite thing to do, it is actually an act of self-love.
Let us know how the gratitude journal is working for you (or not).
With love and gratitude,
Your Inner Companion.