Thanksgiving has come and gone, and often times our practice of gratefulness has come and gone as well. With Thanksgiving, we feel thankful for what we have, no matter how big or how small. For many of us, we get to spend time with family and friends and eat lots and lots of food, so inevitably, we feel thankful. We often take time to go around the table and say what we are thankful for, or we write what we are thankful for on social media so the whole world knows how thankful we are.
What a wonderful time. Giving thanks is so incredibly powerful and can improve our overall mood and insight. But what about the other days and weeks in the year, when we don’t feel so thankful because there isn’t a holiday that encourages us to feel thankful? Often times, we go through our days feeling like there isn’t anything going right, so we forget all of the small things in our lives that so many people don’t have.
Did you sleep in your own bed last night? So many people don’t even have a home. Did you spend time this morning thinking about what you would have for breakfast and spent time staring into an overflowing fridge, overwhelmed with the options? Some people don’t even have food in their fridge to make that decision or don’t even have a fridge at all.
I like to practice gratitude every day, although I will admit that I haven’t been the best at being consistent lately. But when I do practice gratefulness, it often helps to clear my mind. I might be mad at someone in my life, but I remind myself that I am grateful to have them and all they have done for me, and it helps to lessen the pain I might be feeling. I might be mad at myself and frustrated with my lack of progress, but then I remind myself of all I have gone through and endured and how I have won and how things will continue moving forward, and then I feel grateful for the work I have done for myself.
I encourage you to take a moment and pause, whether you read this and it’s the Monday after Thanksgiving or it is already 2020, take a moment to think about what you are grateful for, both small and large things. Be grateful for an able mind that allows you to read or listen to this blog post. Be grateful for technology that allows you to interact with friends and family all over the world. Be grateful for your body, no matter what it looks like, your body does so many powerful things for you. Be grateful for all of the loved ones in your life and the support they continue to give to you. And be grateful for your growth and for who you are becoming. Be grateful that the journey continues to go on and that you have another opportunity today to grow and learn and love and laugh and experience your wildest dreams.
Choose gratefulness, today and every day. Being grateful can help put your life into perspective, especially when things are not going right, and push you to see the positive, to see the light within the dark.
Ask yourself, “What am I grateful for today?” Or “What was the best part of my day today?”, and celebrate that you have so much overflowing abundance in your life, that so many people would dream of having.
Change your mindset. I promise you that practicing gratefulness is a powerful and positive life-changing tool.
So in the spirit of practicing gratefulness, I am grateful for all of you who read these blog posts, who reach out about mental health, and for the endless opportunities this blog has given me, among countless other things in my life, like my health, my fiance, my parents and brother, my new family, my friends, my notebook, my water bottle, my memories, my able body and mind, my apartment. So many things, if I were to list them all, this blog post would never end. I am just so grateful, and I hope you join me on this gratefulness journey.
Xo,