How to Practice Gratitude On-The-Go
It doesn't matter what you're doing or where you're at, you have the CHOICE to choose gratitude!
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Transcription
Gratitude is so wild.
And it’s so wild because it’s so simple. That’s maybe why sometimes people make it so complicated. Or they just don’t practice gratitude at all. "It’s so simple, it won’t make THAT big of a difference."
If you do anything good for yourself over a period of time, you will see a difference. You will feel a difference. You will be different.
And after that period of time you may say “Wow! My life has completely changed!” but in reality, you changed.
Because everything is relative to you. You can be the type of person who complains about the rain and then you start practicing gratitude and while feeling your life changing, but the rainy days still come. It’s not sunshine and good weather all the time. But instead of seeing gray clouds and saying “Oh no it’s going to rain,” you say “Oh! Look at those pretty gray clouds, so cool!”
The world around you is still the same. But YOU are different.
And what’s so cool about that is you did it. All by yourself. Because no one can do gratitude FOR you. It has to come from within.
I’ve done a podcast episode on how gratitude works backed by science so if you want to get into the details, check that episode out here.
But I will mention a few benefits of practicing gratitude. Research has shown that gratitude can improve general well-being, increase resilience, strengthen social relationships, and reduce stress and depression. The more grateful people are, the greater their overall well-being and life satisfaction. Grateful people also have a greater capacity for joy and positive emotions.
I definitely didn’t want to spend an entire episode (this is a podcast episode too) talking about how great gratitude is because it’s pretty much like exercise. You know it’s good for you, now go do it. I thought it’d be better to have an episode where I share what I do to practice gratitude on the-go. I have definitely made gratitude lists and I still do here and there, but I want you to have some easy ways to practice gratitude while you’re busy!
The first way, as I shared a couple episodes ago talking about taking care of the small things is I have an anchor I use to remind me to practice gratitude.
Anytime I see the number 44 or a line of 4’s, I say “thank you”. No matter if it’s on the license plate of a car who just cut me off. “Thank you.” Or it’s 5:44 in the morning and my eyes are barely open “thank you”. Have something so when you’re out, busy, running around, you can come back to gratitude.
Another way for gratitude on the-go is to notice anytime you feel excited or are enjoying something and say “thank you”.
You’re sitting in your friend’s living room with a bunch of great people around, talking and laughing, say to yourself “thank you”. Are you an artist? When you’re working on your art or a project that you enjoy, say “thank you”. If you want to travel more, every time you have the opportunity to be on a plane say “thank you.” Wherever you show gratitude, you will get more of in that area.
This third way to use gratitude on the go may be hard to hear, but practicing gratitude in the moment of something seemingly terrible is great practice.
Get a parking ticket? “Thank you.”
You’re not saying “thank you universe for giving me this ticket!” you’re saying “thank you Universe for bringing this into my life. I am taking this evidence and turning it into a lesson by remembering to pay my parking next time”.
Get into an argument with someone?
First off, cool down. Ok? And then say “thank you. Again, you’re not saying “thank you Universe for bringing this argument in my life! It was awesome!” you’re saying “thank you Universe for bringing this into my life. This has shown me ways in which I can be better.”
Or even when someone ghosts you!
Say “thank you!” Not because you’re telling the Universe “thank you! I love being alone!” but you’re practicing gratitude and saying “thank you Universe, the right one will come at the right time and this wasn’t it.” In order for the UNIVERSE to work in YOUR favor. YOU have to work in your favor. Practice gratitude when it’s hard and you’ll be unstoppable.
The last way I’ll share how I practice gratitude on the go is this - practice gratitude when you’re overwhelmed.
Yes, when you feel like you have too much on your plate and everything is going a mile a minute. Stop. And practice gratitude. This one gets looked over a lot. People just try to push through the overwhelm. They probably will get to the other side of it, but while also in joy? A by-product of gratitude? Probably not. It will likely be more stressful, more strenuous, and anything you create during that time will not be coming from your best self - more errors, lag in communication, bad time management.
So it’s our job to slow down and practice gratitude. And if ya gotta drop some stuff from your to-do list, do it! And say “thank you!”
I get it, it seems counterintuitive to take a break from doing the things you need to get done to stepping back and practicing gratitude. But it also seems counterintuitive for a bow to be pulled backwards when it’s supposed to go forward towards the target. But you know that a bow and arrow works by the bow being pulled back and then sprung to the target. Sometimes you have to take a step back to move forward.
If you are able to choose being grateful when you are feeling overwhelmed, again, you will be unstoppable. Because even in the hard times while you may not SEE the “good” with your eyes, you believe that all of this is for the greater good. I’m not going to wait until years later after realizing that “wow that overwhelm really taught me a lesson how to set boundaries and how to value my time…thank you”. Why wait? Thank the Universe now.
So here are my gratitude on the-go tips:
Use an anchor like an angel number or a color to remind you to practice gratitude and say thank you.
Notice anytime you feel excited or are enjoying something and say thank you.
Practice gratitude in the moment of something seemingly terrible.
And last but not least, practice gratitude when you’re feeling overwhelmed.
Will Arnett, actor, has a quote “I am happy because I’m grateful. I choose to be grateful. That gratitude allows me to be happy.”
Being grateful is a decision. A choice. We can’t always choose to be happy. Sometimes we have to let our emotions be what they are, but we can always be conscious of gratitude. And I’m grateful for that.
And I'm grateful for you!
Thanks for reading!
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