I appreciate how counting blessings on a regular basis can help us be more at ease and in turn be more generous, patient, and understanding. This is one of the big goals in life, I think, to free up some of the energy we spend on self doubt or rumination so that we have energy to be more kind.
But for some reason, I have struggled to find a gratitude practice that rang true for me and that felt practical and authentic and real.
Then a writing community I belong to shared a video in which the speaker recommends keeping a daily log of ordinary moments. It’s a five minute, daily exercise that he does in a spread sheet at the end of each day–just a few sentences.
Since I’m a morning person, I do this writing the first thing each morning with my coffee. I list a moment from the previous day–just one to two sentences.
There are a few things about this practice that surprise me in a good way:
- It strengthens my memory
- It helps me find beauty in everyday things
- It chips away at negative stories I tell myself because it brings everyday beauty to the surface
- It reminds me of how the people in my life make little gestures of kindness all of the time
- It reminds me to thank those people (especially my partner) and ground that thanks in evidence
- It moves my gratitude from abstraction to reality. I’m a practical person so this is a good fit
TUNING Design Co. 