Liz Thompson
Gratitude is the theme this time of year. Today is the day of giving thanks, after all. Right now, we are all about it. But are we doing it right? Are we getting the most from our practice?
Sure, we are all grateful. We think about it, maybe even journal about it. But what if you could boost the power gratitude offers? Two leading visionary women caught my eye this week with their gratitude practices. Let’s take a look.
Marie Forleo shared her thoughts on the subject in this week’s episode of Marie TV, The Most Powerful Gratitude Practice You’re Not Doing. Marie definitely has a way with titles, no? This one is filled with such good info, but it is also so practical and so…simple.
Marie’s idea boils down to this – rather than noting what you are thankful for in a big general lump, go deep. Get down to the nitty gritty of what you are feeling blessed about. Not just that your kids are healthy, but that they can grab their sled and run down to the nearest hill, coming home with rosy cheeks, a fresh air scent, and a smile on their lips. Did you feel that? The difference those details made?
That! That emotional connection with what you are grateful for sends a whole different message to your mind and creates a new energy around it.
Let’s try another one. So you are thankful for a nice home to live in. How about this. You are thankful for a home, that may not be perfect, but is a comfy place where you and your loved ones sit around a table today, share a meal and each other’s company, tell stories, laugh, love. There it is again. That feeling you get from the details, the one that puts a lump in your throat and tears in your eyes, is what creates the power that gratitude delivers.
Then I ran across an old post from Brene Brown. It popped up in my inbox from The Good Life Project. It is worth watching again, even if you’ve already seen it. In it, Brene talks about “honoring the smallest moments”. Kind of seeing a theme here, right?
Being courageous is more important to me, as a value, than succeeding. ~Brene Brown
How freeing is that? You know all of that time you spend doing stuff you feel you have to do and wondering when you’ll get to all that stuff you want to do? Yeah, that. We all do it. Well, what if we did that stuff. The stuff that puts us out there, pulls us away from our comfort zone, makes us grow and experience life in a new way rather than playing it safe?
I had planned a post on gratitude today. Probably a somewhat generic Don’t forget to be thankful type post. After seeing these two lovely ladies’ wise words it changed for me. I got to the details. It reminded me of a practice I took on a few years ago. Each day I’d record (on paper or a note on my phone) one thing that made me feel joyful that day. Every day for a year. Sometimes it was as huge as a health scare being nothing. But more often it was little stuff, like being able to work in my pjs that day or having a whole evening, uninterrupted (and not in the car), with my kids. That year long experiment had lasting effects that are still with me today.
The take away from the words of Marie and Brene are this: Look at the small stuff. It may sound cliché, but that is truly where it’s at. It’s not all about the big successes in life. Sure, those are nice. But the small stuff is what’s going to get us there. And what we’ll hold onto the longest.
A very Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. We here at Feelgood Style are grateful for YOU!
New to gratitude journaling? Read these tips to get started.
[Thank you image via Shutterstock]
