Yesterday was all about giving thanks here in the US. It is my favorite holiday of the year, and it has been for quite awhile.
For me, Thanksgiving is a mile marker that signals the massive projects that I have kicked off earlier in the year are reaching a critical juncture as the end of the year is only a few weeks away. Thanksgiving usually arrives with me running on fumes, and spent on a number of levels. It is a day of recharging, even as I cook crazy amounts of food, and generally am underpowered due to being worn out from the preceding few weeks. It is a day of spending time with those closest to me, although in recent years it has not been the holiday that ‘everyone gets together’ on for a variety of reasons. For me this year, it was an incredible day.
One with zero stress.
Innumerable blessings with things coming together in ways that I could never have imagined in the past – primarily due to limiting beliefs about myself. As those limiting beliefs continue to be destroyed by me, new habits and more resilient beliefs are free to grow ever stronger.
Yesterday was a day of naps, many drive by snacks, and a day of being completely humbled by the blessings in my life. I even got 9 hours of sleep last night. That rarely happens.
So now, we are on this Black Friday where many are racing to consume in a different manner. The consumerism is the rule of the day. The stress levels begin to rise, and now it really is the holiday season for many of us that celebrate Christmas among other end of year holidays.
What if this year was a little different? What if you did not have the stress levels that typify this time of year? What if this past day of thanks was able to carryover as a daily habit?
In the past, I have discussed the numerous benefits of gratitude.
This idea of opening up your day with a recap of 3 things that you feel deep gratitude and ending your day with a similar habit of feeling the 3 things you are grateful for – is a profound one. It is not enough to make a list in the morning and at night.
I invite you to take a couple of minutes in the morning – instead of checking your texts and emails as a first step on your phone – make a list of three things that you are truly thankful to have in your life. This idea of being grateful for what you have, and perhaps even for what you have eliminated in your life is deceptively simple. The practice will begin to reorient your mindset as you start your day, and this has been studied/verified to reduce stress for people that practice this on a daily basis.
Now what happens at night? Particularly after a grueling day? Do you zone out to some TV? Or you are gawking on that little screen in bed – until you pass out?
What if you took stock of another few things in your life that you are truly grateful for in your life? Take stock of this list as you build it, and afterwards take another look at it. I promise you will begin to experience things as an enriched soul.
We so often take so much for granted in our lives, and on many days – even a basic acknowledgement of the goodness that abounds is completely trampled under the rote doing of life.
As we go into this crazy busy season for many of us – I invite you to cultivate a habit of daily gratitude. It does set the stage for a more centered start of the day, and I promise you it is a brilliant practice when you are winding down at night. Write these things down, and you will be amazed when you have a few weeks of these lists captured.
The night time gratitude list of three things is even more compelling as a practice when you have come through a particularly troubling day. The power of this practice is something you just experienced yesterday when you sat down at the Thanksgiving meal – if you stopped and actually pronounced your thanks to those around you.
This idea of gratitude is not a holiday only thing. If anything, Thanksgiving is a pointed reminder that we owe it to the ever better versions of ourselves to truly and ‘feelfully’ give thanks.
Everyday.
I promise you, if you do this on the daily – you will begin to witness every increasing blessings in your life, and new things landing on these lists you make each day.
I cannot explain why this is true, only that it does work.