It is said that you cannot feel fear whilst simultaneously feeling grateful.
When we’re stressed, we’re up in our heads and our thoughts, when we feel grateful, we open and connect with our hearts. So, gratitude simultaneously lowers stress levels and makes us focus on the positive aspects of our life, therefore, giving us a healthier sense of perspective.
As cliché as it might sound, a daily gratitude practice can be incredibly powerful, especially if you do this just before you go to sleep and then again upon waking when your mind is most suggestive and sponge-like.
It will help you feel more calm, loving and grounded, which will help you fall asleep. And when you start your day in this way, it will set the tone for your day.
Whereas, if you go to sleep ruminating over the things that are worrying you, of course, you will find it harder to sleep! I appreciate it can be hard to break the cycle of rumination when you’re worried, but that’s where the gratitude practice comes in — you make yourself focus on what you feel grateful for to change your state and break the cycle of worry.
World-famous motivational coach, Tony Robbins, has a specific morning ritual. He says, he wasn’t ‘wired for positivity’ due to his turbulent childhood. And a key component of his morning ritual is a gratitude practice.
He focuses on 3 things to feel grateful for: one thing is really simple and subtle, like ‘the warm sun on my skin’ or ‘the feeling of the gentle breeze on my face’ … The others can be bigger – whatever you like, whatever you truly feel grateful for in the moment.
To give you some ideas here are a few of mine off the top of my head as I write this:
My neighbourhood:
I’m grateful for the lovely parks, the river and the shops nearby that sell really good quality food along with having friendly staff.
My friends:
Who have been checking in on me when I haven’t responded to their text for a couple of days in addition to sending around a huge number of hilarious memes that have had me in tears laughing on a regular basis!!
The silver birch tree:
Outside my kitchen that overhangs my roof terrace: the leaves are just starting to come out and it’s so beautiful to look out on to when it’s covered in fresh green leaves blowing in the breeze with the sun sparkling through!
Here’s a real-life example of what a gratitude practice can do:
I suggested a morning gratitude practice to my Mother a couple of years ago when she was going through a very stressful period, she was actually being bullied at work and feeling stuck in a difficult toxic environment.
To be honest, I didn’t actually think it was the kind of thing my Mum would do having always been a little sceptical and never really into anything related to self-help and personal development.
But the next time we spoke she said she’d been trying it and how it had made a real difference. I was a little taken aback! Not only had she tried it, but it had worked for her — I’d almost forgotten myself how simple, yet effective gratitude can be!
She soon after left that role and retired but was able to make peace with the situation by forgiving the people who had been unkind towards her. I sense that the practice of feeling gratitude may have played a part in her more loving perspective because, as I say above, gratitude connects you to your heart.
I suggest you try the technique above for 3 days, morning and evening, to see if it works for you and if it does then make it one of your must-dos … It’s as simple as that!
Kate x
