Happy Mindful Life

It’s extremely easy to focus on the problems in our lives. After all, they demand our attention. Our brains keep sputtering away, trying to think of solutions, God bless ‘em. The good things in our lives, which sit quietly, being there for us, don’t always get the attention they deserve.

Practicing gratitude every day and as much as we can not only makes us happier, it attracts more things into our lives to be grateful for. When you are focused on the good things in your life, the focus shifts AWAY from your problems, and makes you feel good. On a vibrational level, energy has a habit of attracting similar energy. Grateful energy has no choice but to attract more grateful energy.

So how do we make gratitude into a habit? A couple of ideas:

1. Gratitude Journal Apps – There are several on the market, but my favorites are Gratitude Journal 365 ($1.99) and Day One ($4.99). Gratitude Journal 365 is a daily photo log of gratitude, great for those who operate best on a visual level. The downside is that you can only post one entry per day, and I think generally the more times you are grateful every day the better. Day One is a journaling app with a beautiful interface that lets you post to multiple journals, so you can have a gratitude-specific journal along with others.  

2. Upon waking up and as you lay down for bed, name three NEW things you are grateful for. Although I’m grateful for my husband, my family and my friends every day, coming up with new things every time makes me expand my awareness of the good things in my life. Feel free to use this time to feel grateful for those every-day grateful things like your loved ones, but also feel grateful for the smell of fresh cut grass in summer, the sweet comment your aunt left on your Facebook, or the pint of pistachio ice cream in your freezer.

3.  Set a few alarms for yourself to go off daily to remind you to find something to be grateful for. Set one at lunch so you can be grateful for the nourishing food or the break from lunch. Set one for when you get home so you can consciously feel grateful for the feeling of relaxation after a day’s work. Or whenever works for you.

4. Notice when you enjoy things. For instance, I love the first sip of coffee in the morning so much. So every time I take that first sip I take a moment to appreciate how darn good it makes me feel, and give thanks for coffee and that feeling. When I get in my car to go to work and a song I love plays, I stop and consciously feel grateful for the music. I live in gorgeous, sunny Colorado, and going outside for the first time each day is nearly always an easy reason for gratitude.

5. When feeling grateful for your loved ones, take the concept from #2 and find 3 new things about them to be grateful for: their goofy singing voice, a well timed text, the fantastic dinner they made, the fact they remembered to put the seat down, the way hugging them feels; or take the time to remember a great time you had with them and how that time bonded you two together. This will not only strengthen your gratitude habit, but your relationship too.

Recognizing the little miracles in your life is a fail-safe way to feel better every single day, and enjoy the things you love even more. The more you practice gratitude, the easier it becomes, and the more things you will find in your life to be grateful for.

“A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles”