Happier Life = Gratitude

Are you thankful everyday?

Do you feel you have something to be grateful for when you start your day or snuggle into bed at night?

photo credit: Yoga District

I always thought I was a happy, grateful, thankful person. I tended to be the glass half full, optimistic person…the ‘why can’t we all get along girl’. I still am that person…but now I actually have evidence and to a certain extent I’ve narrowed my gratitude focus to be more personal and tangible.

Would you like to bring this fuller sense of gratitude into your life?

Picture Source here

It all started about a year ago at the annual Tranquil Space Teacher Meeting. A fellow yoga teacher shared the idea of having a ‘Gratitude Partner’. It’s simple really:

• Needed: Two people
• Daily, share with each other 2-5 things you are grateful for
• Medium of sharing: Email, Text, Phone…..really anything works, even Twitter or Facebook.

Tranquil Space has many teachers, staff, teacher assistants ….so everyone who was interested put their names in and we were paired up with our gratitude partner.  That simple.

I was paired up with a lovely yoga teacher who taught at a different studio…so I actually had never met her before. It seemed to me like a lofty idea to be grateful for 2-5 things everyday, to open up to someone who I barely knew…and to a certain extent share things with them that I barely shared with my husband….or even cognitively recognized myself.

I found that not fully knowing my gratitude partner was a benefit. I didn't feel judged by the things I was sharing and could completely be myself. Although, some of you may find it easier to be paired with someone you know well.

We went the email route, so almost every day we shared our gratitude's with each other (some days we missed....for various reasons, but mostly there was an email from my gratitude partner in my inbox daily) ...it becomes something you actually look forward to receiving.

As far as the types of things I shared….Some days were quite sparse and others were lengthy. Sometimes it was easy to think of a ton I was thankful for…and there were those days, that I was just thankful for the basic necessities. Here are a few selected examples from the past year that I wrote to my gratitude partner.

Picture source here

10.26.12 ~ Hi....the leaves this season are absolutely magical! I'm super grateful for the opportunity to notice them this October. Normally Octobers I'm couped up in an office for 10+ hour days....so it feels great to see the light shine through the leaves during the day. I'm grateful for the amazing weather yesterday and being able to teach a class outside! Just beautiful :)

7.3.12 ~ I'm grateful we survived, with relatively pleasant moods and no arguing the last 2 days, yesterday working on 3.5 hours of sleep we traveled to Louisville (grateful for catching our connecting flight) and having the energy to see 11 houses ...but also be 'ON' to meet new people and have a pleasant dinner with in-laws and stay up playing games quite late.

3.16.12 ~ Grateful for a lunch date sitting outside enjoying the beautiful weather, feeling so much happier with the sun out and making the time to enjoy it, sharing a lovely bottle of wine with hubby...for remembering to wear green today ;)

1.25.12 ~ another long day at work (grateful for job but wishing I didn't have overtime) - wishing I didn't have to be an adult. ;) Hmmm - grateful a big pre-presentation is over and went well, and that I think I see light at the end of the tunnel...and for yummy leftover pesto pasta ;)

12.24.11 ~ i'm sooo thankful for the holidays....the time to remember family, cherished moments and in creating new traditions. This morning I was looking at our Christmas tree with a happy heart thinking about all of the special moments when we received the ornaments as gifts from friends, parents and grandparents.....(on a side note I had this ambitious thought to 'log' all of my ornaments so my unborn children would know how special they are to me....soooo dorky!) Thankful for our new traditions of visiting the white house Christmas tree and our jaunt to the newseum today.....now time for hot chocolate and cuddling. Enjoy your night!

12.17.11 ~ Yesterday I was soooo grateful for TT500 session for sooo many reasons; it was the perfect ending to an abnormally busy/crazy week, the teachers taught beautiful 20 minute sutra based classes that were absolutely a perfect way to end the week, and I was lucky to have been their student last nigh

Some benefits I've found by practicing daily gratitude:

• Awareness of simple things that bring me much happiness
• Recognition of the wonder and beauty in what otherwise may seem like a redundant, routine day
• Ability to share what I am grateful for with others, which provides continuous replenishment of the soul
• A deeper sense of contentment and happiness (even on those days you feel sad and gloomy)
• A 'pen pal' of sorts who I've become connected to and enjoy hearing about what makes her grateful, it brings an added sense of excitement into my own life.
• "Feeling grateful of someone or something in your life attracts more of the things that you appreciate & value into your life" ~ completely agree with this Twitter Muse

If you are interested in doing this, you could bring this into any community you belong to, your yoga community, favorite sporting group, friends, co-workers, family.

Do you have a daily, weekly, monthly gratitude practice? What is your favorite gratitude practice?

Picture source here

Additional Resources on Cultivating Gratitude:

• Selfless Gratitude ~ Yoga Journal ~ My favorite part of this article reads: "Practicing mindfulness of gratitude consistently leads to a direct experience of being connected to life and the realization that there is a larger context in which your personal story is unfolding. Being relieved of the endless wants and worries of your life's drama, even temporarily, is liberating. Cultivating thankfulness for being part of life blossoms into a feeling of being blessed, not in the sense of winning the lottery, but in a more refined appreciation for the interdependent nature of life. It also elicits feelings of generosity, which create further joy. Gratitude can soften a heart that has become too guarded, and it builds the capacity for forgiveness, which creates the clarity of mind that is ideal for spiritual development."

• Nature, Beauty, Gratitude ~ Ted Talks ~ A short 10 minute video with the most amazing photography and video of nature and a brief discussion cultivating a desire to be mindful and grateful for each day.

• Give Thanks ~ Yoga Journal ~ Interesting Fact Learned: "A series of studies he conducted in 2003 found that people who kept weekly written records of gratitude slept longer, exercised more frequently, had fewer health complaints, and generally felt better about their lives..."

• A Smart Phone App, Thankfulfor, that makes being grateful easier if you don't have a gratitude partner available. Thanks to Tickled Pink for sharing this idea!