Chapter 5: Basic Gratitude Tips
To stay motivated, consistent and be able to avoid procrastination, here are a few helpful tips to ease you into your daily practice of gratitude:
- Start each day with a scheduled alert to remind you what the day's challenge will be and what you are supposed to do.
- Schedule another one or two alerts during the day as a reminder to check in with yourself and make sure you're on the right track.
- On the third or fourth day, block off 30 minutes to an hour to give yourself a special treat as a reward for having made it through the challenge so far. This will register to your brain that gratitude is something that you celebrate and value, helping your brain embrace it faster.
- Keep affirmations posted where you can see them, such as on your fridge, taped onto your bathroom mirror or on your computer desktop.
- Join a community of likeminded people. Make great use of social media by finding and joining a gratitude community and engaging with likeminded people. It's a great way to share experiences, enjoy some great support and maybe even make some great friends.
- Try guided meditation. A quick YouTube search for "Guided Gratitude Meditation" will give you access to a range of meditations of various lengths. Just put on some headphones, get comfortable and let yourself go! These meditations are a great way to unwind and practice gratitude at the same time.
- Pray. If you are religious, prayer is one of the best ways to express your gratitude to God for all the blessings He has given you.
- Reconnect with nature. Communing with nature is one of the best ways to stay uplifted and grateful. Take long walks, plan picnics, go hiking or cycling, or sit in your back yard and stargaze. No matter where you live, there should be opportunities for getting outside and enjoying nature and the more you do so, the better.
- Avoid gossiping and complaining. As you begin to adopt gratitude as a mindset, this will become much easier. You will naturally gravitate towards all that is positive – and avoid wasting time talking about others or complaining. If you do tend to do these things, catch yourself doing them throughout the day and stop yourself. You should begin to notice a pattern and learn to avoid the things that trigger it.
- Stay minded and grounded in the present. Ruminating about the past is useless because that won’t change it. Overthinking and worrying about the future is just as useless because you can't control what happens. Your best bet is to live in the present and gratefully enjoy what you have. Mindfulness and gratitude go hand in hand and each strengthens the other. You may want to consider mindfulness exercises or meditation to train yourself to be more present at all times.
The bottom line: The most important thing through all this is to get excited about the changes happening inside you and how your life is slowly being transformed. Enjoy the amazing transformation, get creative and look for new ways to help you practice gratitude every day.
