Creating a daily gratitude practice takes time to develop. Just like any other new habit, you’ve got to give it at least 21 days to stick. The thing about gratitude is that it can be very simple to add to our daily life. And these five quick tips take only moments to do!
1. Wake up and say Thank You! What are your first thoughts when you wake up in the morning? Grateful to be alive or dreading another day? Focus on one good thing (hey, I woke up!) and you’ll change the tone for your entire day.
2. Write down three specific things you are grateful for today, before bed. A gratitude journal is easy to do and easy not to do. But the benefits of actually doing it far outweigh the time it takes to write out three things. Start tonight. Find an old journal or even a notepad and a pen or pencil. Place it on your bedside table and take five minutes before you go to sleep to express your gratitude in writing.
3. When faced with a challenge, stop and ask yourself, what am I grateful for right now? Gratitude grounds us in the present. It is the fastest way to reduce stress and calm ourselves down. By focusing what you have to be grateful for right now, it creates the clarity needed to deal with a challenging situation.
4. Every time you pass a mirror, give thanks to your body for being miraculous. It is so easy to forget how truly amazing our bodies are. There are thousands of processes happening every single moment of the day, which we have no control over, but are essential to keep us alive. Isn’t that amazing?
5. Use prayer or meditation to give thanks and to create your amazing life. Faith is an important part of living a grateful life. It’s not important who or what you have faith in, simply having an unshakable faith is. Meditation allows us to slow down, breathe and take a mental inventory of all that we have to be grateful for.
Julie Boyer’s mission in life is to inspire people to build their lives on a foundation of gratitude through her brand, Wake Up With Gratitude™. Julie's first book, 30 Days of Gratitude, The Gratitude Program That Will Change Your Life, became an Amazon bestseller when it was released in May 2013. She is also the founder of the 30 Day Whole Body Detox Program, a healthy, whole food detox that nourishes your body at the cellular level. Julie also loves to mentor and develop leaders through her mentorship program as well. A former triathlete, Julie has completed 3 full Ironman Distance triathlons. Julie lives in Ontario, Canada with her 6 year old daughter and husband Dan. She can be reached on her blog, www.julieboyer.com
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