Hey, Don't Be Judging My Gratitude
When we hit November, we may start to see 25 days of being thankful or the likes. This is a great way to make us really think about finding something in each day we can recognize as a gift for the day in terms of thankfulness or gratefulness. Some days will prove to be super easy while other days about all we can come up with is “I got to have lunch today.” Try as we might, some days we just can’t come up with anything brilliant. Most times, we feel pressured to come up with something enlightened or wise, because we might get judged on the quality of our thankfulness. And why not? Literally everything we say or do, is judged by someone. Whether it be a friend, a family member, your boss, or some troll on social media, the judging will ensue! The criticism may hold us back from saying what we really are grateful for on this or any day. What the trolls forget is everyone handles life differently, have issues at the present moment we know nothing about, and levels of importance are different for everyone. It’s all relative to a specific situation. It deserves our respect. Most importantly, WE should not judge our OWN gratitude either. We can put it out there for all to see, but we certainly do not have to. Our gratitude can be private.
So, what should we place on that grateful list? I say whatever you want, but find one thing every day. Wait, you thought we were talking about just 25 days? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, or more work, but why shoot for just 25 days? Is that all we got? You have it in you trust me. Get a journal or a notebook, write down the date followed by one thing you are grateful for on that date. Maybe you won’t be able to write something down every single day, and that’s ok! See if you can stick with it through the end of 2022. Then, that might turn into 2023, and you just keep going. It is beneficial to write it down for several reasons:
It becomes real
You have it to refer back to or to reflect upon
Because it’s something positive, it gives you a little boost
Over time, it slowly turns into more positivity
Makes your brain work
Makes it easier to set an intention (what is that? future blog lol)
Regardless of how you choose to journal your thankfulness or gratefulness or how long you plan to do this, you will get a new perspective. It may just be saying it to yourself each night or saying it to yourself in the morning from the prior day instead of writing it down. It really is just a way of developing a positive habit over time. Maybe that turns into more positive habits as the weeks or months pass. What do I know? Nothing. Again, just passing on what has worked for me. Most importantly, don’t judge yourself on what you write or say to yourself. It’s YOUR list. You know what you are thankful for each day even if it’s “the laundry is done.” These are real things on many of our days! We should embrace them as a win. Some days we have the big items, “I’m cancer free”. While some days, we have the small victories. The point is, they’re all victories for us, and we need to celebrate them, write them down, journal them, remember them in some way. So, don’t go judging your gratitude, or anyone else’s for that matter.
After my middle daughter Annie’s accident, she started reading a book called The Daily Stoic (you can order on Amazon of course). There are 365 daily quotations from many sources. So, the reader has one quotation per day to read, which are knowledgeable, inspirational, or powerful. There is a journal to accompany the book as well if the reader would be so moved. Anyway, she has found this read quite helpful during her recovery. Might be a great addition on your road to thankfulness.
There will be those really dark days where there is absolutely nothing you can find for which to be grateful. I’ve been there a couple times as I’m sure every single person reading this has too. And that’s ok. Permission granted to have that day or days when you just can’t find one spec of gratitude. Maybe one day, we have two or three things. There is no wrong way, just that we find time to write it or tell it to ourselves.
If there was ever a time to try your hand at this, it’s 2022! So many things to be grateful for, or not. It is so easy to fall in to a destructive pattern, but life is constantly bringing us new trials and tribulations, as well as miracles and adventures. So, find a journal, start writing your gratitude, wins or thoughts down. I promise you, you’ll find it quite useful. Love and light to all!