Do you have a daily practice of gratitude? I have been practicing this for a long time. It started many years ago when life wasn’t good. There was constant struggles. Constant hurt and constant frustrations. I found myself being grateful for the simple things that went right for the simple kindnesses shown to me.
Some days being thankful was a way to get through the hardness of the day. By focusing on what I was grateful for it gave me hope that things would be better and better days were coming.
Fast forward to now and my life is exponentially better than it once was. Now I get up in the mornings and I am thankful for the many, many blessings I have. But some days I get distracted by the challenges. Just because my life is so much better now doesn’t mean I don’t have challenges. On those days I have learned to refocus myself on the things I have to be grateful for especially when the day feels hard or too much to bear.
What does gratitude do for us? It redirects us. It gives us a different perspective and shows us most important that the season we are in, the struggle we are experiencing is not permanent. It’s a reminder of better days. A reminder of what is good in the world.
This week, take some time to practice gratitude. Write down 5 things each day that you have to be thankful for and if you can write more than that is even better. Make it a goal not to repeat the same item on the list on any day. You will find that you focus more on little things that brighten your day. Little things that bring you joy. Because the little things add up to big things. Go on and do it. Especially if you are in the midst of challenge or hard season. You won’t regret the time you spent being thankful.