“The holidays are coming! The holidays are coming!” the aisles of Target and calendars are seemingly screaming at us.
Notice what sensations this evokes for you. My heart hops a little faster, my mind speeds up, and I’m primed for action, no, make that 20 actions. Suddenly I’m holding my breath and my head is spinning.
What to do? Stop. Drop. And give thanks. Finding something, anything to be thankful for in the heat of the holiday moment never fails to ground me, and calm me.
Everything shifts, as I pause and appreciate the preschooler in awe of the inflatable elf in aisle 10. My heart softens as I extend gratitude for the food in my cart and the money in my purse to purchase it.
The thankfulness grows. I think of my family who will soon gather festively. The air that fills my lungs, the calm I find at my heart center when I pause, and the Earth below my feet. There is so much, every moment, to be thankful for and I am overwhelmed with a warm, soft sense of abundant love.
I wish I remembered to ground in gratitude more often. The thing is, gratitude is a practice. Like any practice, it must be mindfully cultivated and met with discipline and consistency. Like many crafts, gratitude is a practice that thrives with community and ritual.
With the holidays drawing closer, today, this moment is the perfect time to start deliberately fostering a daily gratitude practice. Here are three ways you can bring daily mindful gratitude into your life this holiday season, or anytime:
Dedicate a gratitude station in your home or office. This does not need to be elaborate. A place where you post pictures of people or things you’re grateful for, post a “Be thankful” sign, or a gratitude jar the whole family can fill.
Set a time for a daily mindful pause and look around through the lens of gratitude. Set a Google calendar alert, put a note in your lunchbox. Create a proactive reminder to your future self to take that pause, put on your gratitude goggles and look around at the world’s gifts to you.
Put it in writing with a gratitude journal. Before you brush this one off with, “I’m not a writer,” or “I don’t have time to journal,” consider a bullet approach. Make a three item list, one word each, of things you are thankful for that day. Example: Air. Babysitters. Coffee. That’s it. Set your journal on your nightstand and make it a quick before bed practice. To help get you rolling with other ideas, I’ll be offering gratitude journal prompts (and other mindfulness practices) during my upcoming Ground in Gratitude events.
Ground in Gratitude
You can find support for your gratitude practice through two special opportunities this November:
Ground in Gratitude Live Workshop
November 15, 2019
Partners to Empowerment Wellness Center
Call 216.591.1908 to register.
Ground in Gratitude 7-day Virtual Journey
A week of intentional thanksgiving and gratitude practice cultivation with online support and inspiration from Liz.