An Attitude of Gratitude 🙏
I hope you had a wonderful weekend and are feeling ready for a new week!
Mondays are not always the best day, especially if you are in a situation where you struggle to find joy. May it be a job you don’t like, a toxic colleague or boss, or you just find the idea of Monday and a full week ahead overwhelming. Oftentimes we find ourselves stressing out as soon as we wake up even though we have had a wonderful and restful weekend.
Well, I have discovered an interesting fact about how gratitude can affect stress and it could be a tool that you can use to lower your stress levels on Monday and every other day!
Many studies have shown that an attitude of gratitude is a way for us to be more grounded, appreciative, feel happier, and have higher levels of dopamine and serotonin in contrast to cortisol (stress hormone).
So how can I cultivate gratitude in my life? Is just naming three things I’m thankful for (like at Thanksgiving dinner) enough? Well, I’d say that’s a really great start. Just a few moments of thoughtful gratitude can make a big difference and help us realize how truly blessed we are and it also shifts our focus to positive thoughts. We often end up focusing on others, and how we have been positively impacted by a kind word, a warm hug, cute animals, delicious and nourishing food our friend or family made, a stranger letting us out on the road in front of them, etc. The list can literally go on and on for a very long time.
And suddenly, we realize that we are no longer focused on ourselves, our problems, our worries, etc. Instead of looking within and becoming self-focused, we lift up our eyes and look at the beauty around us, the good we can find in our situations in spite of the rest of it. And by beholding, we become changed. We decide that we want to reflect that same beauty we can see around us. The kindness. The compassion. The unconditional love.
I invite you this morning to cultivate an attitude of gratitude. Here are a few questions for doing this in a practical way taken from a great *article:
1. What have I learned recently that has helped me grow?
2. What opportunities do I currently have that I am grateful for?
3. What physical abilities do I have but take for granted?
4. What did I see today or over the last month that was beautiful?
5. Who at work (or at home) am I happy to see each day and why?
6. Who is a person that I don’t speak to often, but, if I lost them tomorrow, it would be devastating? (Take this as a cue to reach out today!)
7. What am I better at today than I was a year ago?
8. What material object do I use every day that I am thankful for having?
9. What has someone done for me recently that I am grateful for?
10. What are the three things I am grateful for right now?
I found these questions to be amazing opportunities for finding things to be thankful for! I would love to hear your grateful thoughts if you would like to share! Feel free to send them to me through Instagram, email, or a comment on the blog!
And to share something I am so grateful for - your presence here!! It is truly an honor to connect with you and you are one of the many blessings I give thanks for! And one more just for fun - this morning my cat Nala was super cuddly and we had a major cuddle session while I read my book - she even stretched out and put her paw on my chest and left it there for a good while! Cuteness overload!!
If you would like to discover another way to cultivate gratitude in your life, I will be guiding a gentle morning yoga flow every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And this week we will be focusing on gratitude as we flow! If you’d like to join us, have a look at the schedule and find what fits your schedule.
Wishing you all a beautiful day and week, full of gratitude.
✌️ Caroline
*Here is the article if you'd like to read it: https://hbr.org/2020/10/use-gratitude-to-counter-stress-and-uncertainty
____Published 10/17/2021____
