“Give thanks for a little and you will receive a lot.” – Hausa Proverb
How are you with gratitude? Do you feel gratitude on a daily basis? Or is it easier for you to focus on the negative parts of your day?
We can’t change the fact that being human means that we will experience stressful and challenging times. We can however make sure that we notice and recognize the positive things in our lives as well. This is especially hard when we are living through a challenge. The idea of a gratitude practice isn’t to brush difficult emotions or situations under the rug and remain positive at all costs. The goal of practicing gratitude is to cultivate the emotions associated with gratitude on the premise that neurons that fire together wire together.
This idea that neurons that fire together wire together is based on neuroplasticity, which means that our brain is always changing, and the information we are exposed to the most or thoughts and emotions we have the most often are the ones that become the easiest for our brain to retrieve. Practicing gratitude daily makes it easier for us to access positive emotions and also makes us more resilient to stress.
assess your starting point for this challenge
- Do you have a daily gratitude practice?
- Do you find yourself focusing more often on negative than on positive?
- Do you have a high tolerance for stress or do you get overwhelmed easily?
Tips to help you with this challenge
- Get a journal or a few pieces of paper where you can write down what you are grateful for.
- Commit a time in your day to reflect and write down what you are grateful for.
- Gratitude can be for a moment in your day, a person, an event, or anything that comes to mind for you.
- Commit to doing this every day for this challenge.
Reflect on your journey
- How easy was it for you to complete this challenge?
- Was it easy to identify at least one thing you were grateful for every day?
- Were you able to identify many things you are grateful for?
- Is this something you would find beneficial to continue as a daily practice?