As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.

~John F, Kennedy

I often feel that we get caught up in the idea that wellness is found just by including good life enhancing food choices in our daily intake profile.  Even though it is an important component to the wellness equation it doesn’t stand alone.  We must also seek ways to support ourselves physically mentally, emotionally as well as soulfully.  To care and nurture the emotional and soulful aspects of myself I practice the art of gratitude.  I’ve found that by keeping a gratitude journal daily helps me to embrace love deeper and gives me a stronger connection to my heart. My daily practice in the art of gratitude has been and amazing tool and gift in my life.  As my life coach Teri Gyemi says, “Gratitude is the ascension attitude.”

WELLNESS COMMITMENT #1  PRACTICING THE ART OF GRATITUDE

Practicing the Art of Gratitude

This straightforward practice of accounting for the many blessings in your life is so simple yet incredibly profound.  Oprah Winfrey has remarked that keeping a gratitude journal has been the single most impactful thing that she has ever done.

This is how to practice the “Art of Gratitude.”  At the end of the day, before you nod off, take a few moments to ask yourself, what you’re grateful for?  Come up with five things in your day that you can give gratitude to and write them down in your journal.  By doing this you give yourself a blessing everyday to focus on the abundance in your life rather than the lack.  Today, I am learning the art of gratitude.  Today, I am grateful.  Being grateful is the first step on the path of inner Joy.

It’s easy to start your own gratitude journal! or you can find many online version like www.grateful160.com.  Grateful 160 is a gratitude journal that gives you an email or text nudge up to four times daily to count your blessings. You reply with an email or text of your own with a short reflection of gratitude which is stored in your journal.  Each week you get an email summary of all your many blessings that you took account of the prior week.

If you can every day acknowledge five things that your are grateful for, in two months you will most likely not be able to look at your life in the same way as you are right now.
Being grateful for something everyday is so helpful to bring you out of your tough moments and to remember that you truly live in abundance of good things all around you!

I invite you to try it for yourself for 30 days and watch the shifts (inner and outer) show up in your life.