The Power Of Gratitude

In honor of the full moon energy I wanted to share with you my experience with gratitude. At this point in the lunar cycle it is important to practice grounding activities to connect back to yourself. If you’re starting to feel like your life is getting hectic, or your mind isn’t in the place you’d like it to be, there are some ways that I believe can really help bring you back to a good sense of self . 

I know that I am in need of practicing gratitude when I find myself complaining more than I should . Obviously it’s okay to have a complaint and state what you don’t like, but that could quickly turn into you having a bad attitude throughout the day if you continue to do it.  I caught myself in a negative mindset the other day, I was counting the things that were going wrong. Once I realized that I was only focusing on the bad, I stopped and wrote down all of the things that were going good that day. I immediately felt better about what was going on because even though it was frustrating, that didn’t need to be the only thing that took my attention. I started to realize all of the things I was taking for granted. 

I am working on appreciating everyday, and living in the present moment. Being mindful of the things that I am grateful for has really helped and I believe that it could help you too.

So, I encourage you to write a list of all of the things you are grateful for. I started to compare my lists from previous months and I noticed that the things I appreciate change a lot. For example, one time I remember writing down how grateful I was for having heat in my vehicle, it was a really cold day at the time I wrote that. Now I am experiencing a warm summer day, so today I am grateful for my water bottle that helps me stay hydrated. 

It feels good to think about all of the things to be grateful for, I can tell you that after you take the time to reflect you will start to notice a shift into a more positive mindset and your attitude towards the day will improve!  We all have things we strive to attain in our lives, but notice that we can’t take the steps towards them if we don’t first stop to appreciate where we are now. 

  Another important thing to remember is that you don’t just want to be grateful for the "good” things you experience, but also the things that push you to learn and grow. For example, there was a time in my life that I was upset about having to stay home for a week because I was sick.  I started to have a pitty party for myself, justifying reasons to be upset during that time. Yes my body was physically upset, but that didn’t mean my mind had to be as well. During the time I didn’t feel like I had anything to be thankful for, but now looking back I see what I learned. I learned how to take better care of myself and explored different ways to help aid my body holistically.  Now I know how to help myself recover more quickly when I am sick, especially from a holistic standpoint which is what I’m passionate about. I also started researching about the chakra system and different energies points in the body. Day after day I spent time learning about that belief system and it was amazing, it really distracted me from the sickness I was feeling and made me find some enjoyment in the day.  Spending that week at home gave me the opportunity to learn more important things that now have helped me in the future. Now when I look back I am grateful for that time. 

  If you have never written a gratitude list before maybe you could find some inspiration from mine.  At this time in my life these are some of the things that I am grateful for. 

• My camera 

• My playlist 

• Quiet mornings 

• My truck 

• My devotion 

• Beautiful sunsets 

• Smoothies 

• Comfortable shoes 

• Snacks 

• My journal 

• Warm showers 

• My support system 

• Mountain ranges 

• The Moon 

I like to keep my list pretty specific but you can write it however you’d like, sometimes I even like to explain why I feel grateful for the things that I wrote. It is a great activity to do for your mental health and you will soon see benefits!

Remember…. gratitude is the attitude!!