Want to know one of my favourite gratitude techniques?
Even if this were the only one you chose to do, it will still have a massively positive impact on your life.
It takes a minute or two – and it’s worth every second of your time.
Interested? Here it is!
Gratitude Minutes
Here’s a lovely exercise that gets you in the ‘gratitude zone’, no matter what your mood was before. It’s a foundation exercise for this journal, because you can do it every day, even when your main gratitude practice might be something else. It helps you to switch from grumpy to grateful – or wherever you didn’t want to be, to gratitude – in a minute or two.
I normally only share this technique with people on my courses or readers of my Gratitude Journal, but today – in celebration of World Gratitude Day – I want to share it with you.
There’s a video for this technique coming soon – make sure you’re getting my Soul-Sized Living magazine, if you’d like to find out when it’s ready.
Gratitude Minutes
- Take a deep breath and breathe out with a sighing ‘ahhh’ sound.
- Smile a gentle smile – a ‘half-smile’.
‘Half-smiling’ helps you to let go of any stresses, to rebalance your body’s sympathetic nervous system (‘fight or flight’ / adrenalin) with your parasympathetic nervous system (relaxation) and it gently starts the releasing of endorphins – your body’s natural ‘feel good’ hormones. - Think of 3 things you feel grateful for.
It doesn’t have to be ‘big’ or ‘serious’ – whatever comes to mind. Think of one at a time, pausing on each one for at least 20 seconds, allowing yourself to fully experience a sense of gratitude – an inner ‘thank you’ – for whatever it is. Remember specific examples and allow yourself to become immersed in the feeling of gratitude. - Thank yourself.
Thank yourself for taking the time to practice gratitude today. And make a date with yourself to do it again tomorrow. - Release the practice.
Let go of the practice. There’s no need to analyse, critique, judge or tell yourself stories. It will most likely feel different each day. And that’s ok. What matters is consistency – doing it as many days of the year as you can remember. - Write your answers down each day in your gratitude journal, if you have one.
Writing them down makes them feel even more real and creates a wonderfully uplifting resource if ever you’re feeling down.
This helps you to let go of tension. Repeat 3 times, if you need to, to help you relax.
There you go! How did you get on? I’d love to hear from you, via the comments box for this article.
Namaste,
P.S. If you’d like to start a gratitude journal, but don’t have one yet, you might like to check out Gratitude: A Daily Journal – it’s the gratitude journal that my students asked me to write for them.
And if your gratitude practice could do with a kick start, then how about joining in with my online 7 Day Gratitude Kick Start Programme?
And you can also get a free gratitude email each Monday morning – with a round-up of the week’s latest gratitude articles, insider secrets and resources: Weekly Gratitude Emails.
There’s no pressure! I just wanted to let you know that these resources are here to help you.
