Season 1: Ep.04 - Get Grateful
(00:04)
Hello and welcome back to Graceful Rulebreakers. As I've mentioned before, I believe self-care is so important for everyone, and especially for those of us who are engaging in the work of making the world a better place. It is an incredible tool that we can use to recharge, to persist when the going gets tough. Today, I'm sharing the first of many bite-sized tips for how you can incorporate self-care into your daily life. These episodes are intentionally short and sweet. My goal is to offer you a practice to try on for size. If it resonates with you and feels good, give it a go. If not, no worries. You can just leave it. So, with that said, let's get right to our first bite-size tip; get grateful.
(01:13)
So, how do you practice gratitude? I've said this before, and I'm going to say it again, and I am almost certain it will not be the last time that I say this; do what works for you. There are a lot of options for how you can practice gratitude. Some people like to make a list, and even within making a list, there are options, you could say; every day you want to make a list of five things you're grateful for. Or maybe you like focusing on time more, and so every day for one minute, you want to freeform journal and jot down things you're grateful for. Those are all great options that are available to you.
(01:55)
I know for me, every morning I aspire to make a list of five things that I'm grateful for. And what I'm grateful for each day really varies a lot, depending on what's going on in my life. So, some days it feels like I'm writing really basic things like; I'm grateful that I have a place to live, I'm grateful for my dog, Calix… Calix is honestly on my list, like, every day I love him so much, I'm kind of surprised I haven't mentioned him more already on this podcast. But on some days, it's more of, like, basic needs. Sometimes it's more extensive, expansive things… something really amazing happened to me and I feel grateful for that. Or I made a new connection; I feel grateful for that. And on days where I'm more depressed, it could get even more basic like; I'm grateful for sleep, I'm grateful that I got out of bed today. These are all things that have been on my list before, and really all of these things are okay. And I mentioned that I aspire to list five things every day, and I say that because some days I don't get five things. Some days I only have three things and some days I only have one thing on my list.
(03:17)
And here's why; gratitude is a feeling. And that's, what's so important about this practice, is that when you are making your list or, you know, journaling and writing about what you feel grateful for, you really want to tap into the actual feeling of gratitude. Like, Oh my gosh, wow… I feel so grateful that this is happening, like, this is bringing a smile to your face, it's making you feel like you're getting the best hug, like, this is an exercise where you want to feel something, not that wrote checklist type of thing, where you could make a list of the thousand things that you should feel grateful for, or that like rationally, like, of course I'm grateful for all those things… not the same thing. You really want to tap into the feeling of gratitude.
(04:06)
If you're having a difficult time making a list, another option is to pick one thing in your entire life or maybe in the day, or on the week; just one thing that made you feel really grateful, and do a deep dive journaling on it for a few minutes and just talk about why you're grateful for it. And that like unpacking, why you're feeling grateful about something or something good that happened to you, and diving into this good thing that happened to you, and why you feel grateful about it; that can help you tap into the feeling as well.
(04:41)
Also the option of writing thank you cards, and like, expressing gratitude to people and maybe mailing them, or emailing them to people so that they can feel special and happy too. I love practicing gratitude in that way, where I'm also showing it to others. The key here, as I said, is the feeling. So, whatever the gratitude practices that really gets you feeling grateful and in that high vibe, energetic space, that's the practice that you want to pursue and really dig into.
(05:16)
So, bite-size self-care tip; get grateful. Maybe you'll decide to make a list. Maybe you'll decide to journal about one thing you're really grateful for. Maybe you'll send out some cards to express your gratitude to people who've had a positive impact in your life. Whatever you decide to do, really focus on finding and leaning into that feeling, that warm hug, smile on your face… you feel so happy, so cared for, so loved, that feeling of gratitude. Remember to be kind to yourself about this new practice; if you're really not in the head space and you're not feeling grateful, and you're feeling frustrated. Sometimes you can journal and list, and start to get into shifting the energy and feeling good. Sometimes you can't and that's okay. Let it go. Try again later. Maybe there'll be a different practice that resonates with you more. It is all good. The intention is to help you feel good and high vibe. So, do what works for you. I'd love to hear how getting grateful goes for you this week. You can connect with me over on Instagram at Graceful Rulebreaker.
