5 Habits for a Graditude Filled Life

“Gratitude, like faith, is a muscle. The more you use it, the stronger it grows, and the more power you have to use it on your behalf. If you do not practice gratefulness, its benefaction will go unnoticed, and your capacity to draw on its gifts will be diminished. To be grateful is to find blessings in everything. This is the most powerful attitude to adopt, for there are blessings in everything."

— Alan Cohen (Author of A Course in Miracles)

While most people recognize the importance of building a graditude practice, the practical side of doing so may be overlooked or seem daunting in the face of a world which propagates negativity. So how do we actually start to build graditude into our daily life and habits? Of course step one will always be setting the intention to build a practice of gratitude and with that you can think of at least one way to add more gratitude to your life, the following are a few suggestions for that first step which we believe will catalyze and multiply your efforts until every aspect of your life is permeated with the abundance and gratitude you were made to experience in life.

1. Tell the ones who add value to your life one beautiful thing each and every time you see them. It can be as simple as a compliment, and make it heart felt.

2. Morning or evening gratitude entry. Writing your gratitudes is a wonderful way to speak it into your consciousness, try writing the gratitudes in present tense and consider saying thank you with each one such as thank you that I am filled with health and vitality, thank you that I am given all the reaosurces I need to fulfill my life's calling...etc.

3. Using small natural objects as gratitude reminders such as rocks, plants, or beautiful objects. You can speak kind things to this object every day and visualize the object being the embodiment of those feelings.

4. Visualization is an incredible tool to help you heal from painful and traumatic experiences such as going back to them as your older self and counseling your younger self that everything will be okay and that you will find ways to learn from the experience and become better in the future. Try visualizing yourself bringing a candle or light into a dark situation or being grateful for all of your life becuase it brought you to yourself right now.

5. Write down 10-20 personalized affirmations such as 'I am grateful for my life, I am proud of who I am and who I am becoming, I am filled with life and vitality and I always get restful sleep... etc. Then record yourself saying the affirmations and use the recording to loop it into a 30 minute sequence ( myou can use mose basic video editing apps to do this) and download the recording to listen to as you go to sleep every night. That way you are affirming to yourself daily what you truly desire most in life.

These are only a few suggestions but you should feel free to personalize your gratitude practice to make it sustainable to fit your daily habits, because a grateful heart is a happy heart, and we all deserve to live in the light of joy!