Giving Thanks: Keeping it Simple

My gratitude story.

‘Tis the season for giving thanks. It’s about taking a moment to stop and look around you with the specific intention of being grateful – and sometimes I need the reminder. I get so caught up in goal setting and goal accomplishing and I tend to neglect being grateful for all of the wonderful, little things that have already happened.

I also feel like there can be an inherent pressure in giving thanks. As though I must be deeply profound when declaring gratitude. Is a simple, “thank you for a good hair day,” enough? I also worry that I’m not being grateful often enough. Some people write five things per day, others don’t do any at all. I know that I want to be somewhere in the middle but who has the time?

Last year I had these same thoughts, I knew that I had the desire to give thanks but felt like I didn’t have the time, or the depth, or I simply forgot. I needed to simplify and remove the pressure. So, I got a jar. I resisted the temptation to make the jar fancy because I knew that I’d get caught up for weeks trying to make it perfect. I told myself that there wasn’t going to be any excuses and that I should just write. And that’s what I did.

Now I write one to three gratitude notes throughout the day. Some days I still forget but I don’t worry about that and I just start again. I’ll write on any scrap of paper that I can find and I tuck it into the jar when I get home. Some of the things that I’m grateful for are large and thoughtful; others are small and simply make me smile.

Of course, there is always the temptation to simply think about my gratitude and leave it at that. But I have found that thinking about it isn’t enough to make it stick. There’s something in the pausing to write it down that really has impact. I remember it better, I feel it deeper and when things don’t go my way, I remember all of the good things so much easier.

So, if you’re feeling like I was and you have the desire but can’t seem to find the time, just get yourself a jar. Simplify and start writing. This is initially harder than it sounds but it gets easier with time and thinking grateful thoughts becomes second nature.

Here’s couple of tips to get you going:

• It doesn’t have to be a jar, just get a vessel. Anything will work, an old shoebox (and your first gratitude note could be giving thanks for the shoes that came in it!), a plastic Tupperware container, whatever you can find.
• I like to start with the prompt: “Today I’m Grateful For…” and just complete the sentence. Check out my Jux page for some ideas.
• If evening rolls around and I still haven’t written any gratitude notes then I’ll mute the TV on commercial breaks. I sit in the quiet 2-3 minute break and write one thing for my gratitude jar. I’ll do this two or three times and by the end of a show, I’ve got three things that I’m grateful for and my chest feels full with the accomplishment and the gratitude.
• You want special notecards to write on because scraps of paper just won’t cut it? Lucky you! I have a solution. I’ve decided that I would also like a couple of pretty notecards…and I’m sharing. Visit the Download Gallery for this month’s gratitude notecard design.

I hope that you all have a wonderful year with enough joy to fill several jars!

This is part of my series, Journey of 1,865 Days, where I chronicle my desire to stop just talking about the things that I want to do and actually do them. I’m living the life that I want to live and no longer just waiting for it to happen. Join me, won’t you?