Are you feeling disconnected from your heart? Do you feel like the possibilities are limited in your life? If this is speaking to you, I recommend trying out a daily gratitude practice!
A daily gratitude practice is a wonderful ritual that assists us with reconnecting with our hearts and opens us up to the possibilities of each day.
In this article, I talk about what a gratitude practice is, how to start a gratitude practice, how to feel gratitude, and how I approach my daily practice.
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What is a Gratitude Practice?
So you might be wondering what a gratitude practice is exactly.
A gratitude practice provides us with the opportunity to acknowledge and feel our heartfelt appreciation for all the experiences, opportunities, people and more in our day-to-day lives. When we do so, we attract even more experiences promoting those feelings of appreciation.
It reconnects us with the present moment—every time we acknowledge and feel our appreciation as these experiences, opportunities, people, and things appear in our lives, we connect to the present moment.
But a gratitude practice isn’t just about looking at those things we deem ‘positive.’ Every experience, whether we perceive it as positive or negative, is a learning opportunity, providing us with an opportunity to grow. A gratitude practice can assist us with identifying the lessons available to us throughout each day that help us grow.
How to Start a Gratitude Practice
A gratitude practice is personal, and your best guide will always be your heart. That being said, I have some suggestions to get you started.
1. Begin each day with an open heart and mind
Starting each day with an open heart and mind will assist you in opening up to the possibilities of the day. So often, do we limit ourselves from seeing the opportunities available to us in our lives because of limiting beliefs. What if you started the day by saying, ‘Anything is possible!’? How would that shift your day?
2. Be present
We need to be present to notice the possibilities available to us throughout the day. Whenever you catch yourself focusing on the past or the future, you can choose to come back to the present moment.
To bring yourself back to the present moment, you can ask yourself questions like: “Where am I right now? Who is around me? What objects are present in my space or the surrounding environment? What noises am I hearing?” And so on. Taking a moment to reorient yourself into the moment can help.
Our power lies in the present moment; it’s the only time and place we can consciously change our lives and its trajectory. The choices we make in every moment matter and add up.
3. Acknowledge the gift in the moment & feel heartfelt appreciation throughout your being
Take a moment to acknowledge the opportunities, experiences, people, things, and more as they come into your life or enter your awareness.
For example, I love goldfinches. To me, they are a reminder of joy and playfulness. Whenever a goldfinch crosses my path, I know it’s a reminder from the Universe to reconnect to the joy available to me in the moment.
As you acknowledge the gift in the moment, thank the Universe while allowing yourself to feel heartfelt appreciation throughout your entire being. Connecting to this feeling of gratitude will lift your energy and attract even more of these wonderful experiences into your life.
Whenever I see a goldfinch, a big smile always appears on my face. These experiences bring me so much joy!
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How to Feel Gratitude: A quick exercise when practicing gratitude
I know it can be challenging to feel the energy of gratitude, especially when you are feeling disconnected from your heart. So what can you do?
In the following video, I share a quick exercise you can do to feel gratitude. This exercise can be done anytime, anywhere, as you practice gratitude. To get started, watch the video below 👇
4. Journal about your day
A gratitude practice can be as simple as acknowledging the gift in each moment, feeling our appreciation for it, and then paying attention to the next moment.
But I find that this practice becomes even more magical when we take the time to write about our day. There is power in writing things down. Journaling about our moments of gratitude throughout the day provides us with an additional opportunity to connect with our hearts and feel that heartfelt appreciation once again.
At the end of each day, write down what or who you are grateful for and why you are grateful for them. As you write, allow yourself to feel that heartfelt appreciation throughout your body.
I like to write in a dedicated gratitude journal so I can see how my list grows over time. You can simply dedicate a journal to your practice. Or, if you want a journal that was created for a gratitude practice, I love the Grateful Heart Gratitude Journal by TheLamare.
It’s a beautiful gratitude journal that allows you to journal for six months. Each day has space for your daily gratitude practice and the positive affirmations you are working with. It also includes gratitude writing prompts, colouring pages, mindfulness tips, and monthly self-reflection.
Questions to assist you with your gratitude practice
When journaling about your day, to identify the things that impacted your day, you can ask yourself all sorts of questions. For example:
- What had meaning for me today?
- What helped me grow today?
- What or who made me smile today?
- What guidance from the Universe showed up for me today?
- What did I learn today?
To assist you with your daily gratitude practice, I’ve created a list of 38 gratitude journal prompts you can use when you are unsure what to write. The gratitude prompts are available to members of my free online community, The Conscious Living Circle. To get access to the community and other free resources, get access to your invite link here.
5. Keep Practicing
A gratitude practice is, of course, best when practiced daily. The more we practice gratitude, the more we will feel grateful for each day. As you journal about your days, you will notice that your list gets bigger and bigger over time!
If you miss a day or you stop for a time, that’s ok. You can always start again. To begin, come back to the present moment to see what gifts are in store for you right now!
How I Approach My Daily Gratitude Practice
Each morning I wake up and say, “I wonder what’s possible!” Doing so allows me to open my heart and mind to the day, allowing wonderful opportunities to enter my life.
By approaching my gratitude practice with this openness, I never know what might show up that day. And I find this so exciting because the possibilities are truly endless.
Meaningful events begin to occur in our lives when we pay attention to the present moment.
I don’t always write down the things I’m grateful for each day—often thanking the universe mentally as each thing comes up throughout the day while feeling appreciation throughout my body—but when I do, I tend to notice even more magic in my life.
Writing about those things that made up my day allows me to re-experience the gratitude I experienced that day. This is important because the more we feel that heartfelt appreciation, the more of it we bring into our lives.
So there you have five steps to creating your daily gratitude practice. At first glance, a gratitude practice may seem simple. But don’t underestimate this transformative practice.
The more you practice gratitude, the more you’ll find it’s a way of living, living in alignment with your heart. It will change the way you perceive the world around you. And it will open you up to the unlimited possibilities in your life.
There’s no better time to begin a gratitude practice than now! It all begins with paying attention to the present moment and acknowledging what’s before you. Are you ready to embrace the moment?
RELATED: 4 Gratitude Practice Mistakes that Can Affect Your Daily Practice
With Love,
Featured Photos of Sara Monk by Reanne Berard
Discussion Question: What are you grateful for today? And why? Let me know in the comments below!
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