Oct 15 Weekly Challenge: Making Gratitude a Habit
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Theme: Happiness Challenge
Challenge: Making Gratitude a Habit
We all have blessings in our lives, gifts that are given to us freely that make our lives better and often easier than they would be otherwise. These gifts may be our health, a supportive spouse, our children and grandchildren, a trusted confidant, our unique talents and skills, access to good food and clean water, to name just a few. Our list of gifts and blessings is long and deeply personal. And each of us every day is given the gift of time...1440 minutes a day to accomplish what we need and want to do. Our time "bank accounts" get replenished every day, with new opportunities to make progress on the goals we have and the things we care about. To me, that is one of the greatest gifts of all.
Unfortunately, it's easy to overlook our many gifts and take them for granted. This week, let's spend some time reflecting on what we have been given. Cultivating gratitude as a daily practice leads to greater happiness and a multitude of other health and life benefits, as you'll see from the resources below.
To benefit fully from the transformative power of cultivating gratitude, it's important that we take some time to reflect on how each gift has impacted your life and what it means to you. A brief momentary recognition (a positive thought) isn't enough...we need to take some time to appreciate our gifts. In fact, cultivating positive experiences throughout our day including gratitude and allowing them to "seep in" has been found to physically change the structure of our brains resulting in even greater happiness and a deeper sense of well-being. Optimism can become our "default" setting with practice! (See Rick Hanson's book, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence for a great explanation of this process).
This Week's Challenge: Take a few minutes each day this week to reflect on something you are grateful for and how it's benefited your life. Can you find a trigger or cue in your daily routine to anchor this practice to? For me, it's my morning cup of coffee. As I sip my first cup of coffee, I identify one or two things in my life I'm grateful for. I've been doing this tiny habit for several months now and it's a terrific starting point for the rest of the day.
If you have a few extra minutes, jot down what you are grateful for. Whether you use pen and paper or an online journal such as Penzu, writing down your reflections gives you something to refer back to and reread in the future. Plus, the act of writing deepens the mind-brain connection in a way that thoughts do not.
Make it a great week!
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Suggested Resources:
The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/
How Gratitude Leads to a Happier Life
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201511/how-gratitude-leads-happier-life
TED Talk: Want to be happy? Be grateful.
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful
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Our monthly challenge, This October I will..., continues! Please tell us how you are progressing and how it's going for you!
Challenge: Making Gratitude a Habit
We all have blessings in our lives, gifts that are given to us freely that make our lives better and often easier than they would be otherwise. These gifts may be our health, a supportive spouse, our children and grandchildren, a trusted confidant, our unique talents and skills, access to good food and clean water, to name just a few. Our list of gifts and blessings is long and deeply personal. And each of us every day is given the gift of time...1440 minutes a day to accomplish what we need and want to do. Our time "bank accounts" get replenished every day, with new opportunities to make progress on the goals we have and the things we care about. To me, that is one of the greatest gifts of all.
Unfortunately, it's easy to overlook our many gifts and take them for granted. This week, let's spend some time reflecting on what we have been given. Cultivating gratitude as a daily practice leads to greater happiness and a multitude of other health and life benefits, as you'll see from the resources below.
To benefit fully from the transformative power of cultivating gratitude, it's important that we take some time to reflect on how each gift has impacted your life and what it means to you. A brief momentary recognition (a positive thought) isn't enough...we need to take some time to appreciate our gifts. In fact, cultivating positive experiences throughout our day including gratitude and allowing them to "seep in" has been found to physically change the structure of our brains resulting in even greater happiness and a deeper sense of well-being. Optimism can become our "default" setting with practice! (See Rick Hanson's book, Hardwiring Happiness: The New Brain Science of Contentment, Calm, and Confidence for a great explanation of this process).
This Week's Challenge: Take a few minutes each day this week to reflect on something you are grateful for and how it's benefited your life. Can you find a trigger or cue in your daily routine to anchor this practice to? For me, it's my morning cup of coffee. As I sip my first cup of coffee, I identify one or two things in my life I'm grateful for. I've been doing this tiny habit for several months now and it's a terrific starting point for the rest of the day.
If you have a few extra minutes, jot down what you are grateful for. Whether you use pen and paper or an online journal such as Penzu, writing down your reflections gives you something to refer back to and reread in the future. Plus, the act of writing deepens the mind-brain connection in a way that thoughts do not.
Make it a great week!
...................................................................................................................................................
Suggested Resources:
The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
http://happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/
How Gratitude Leads to a Happier Life
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201511/how-gratitude-leads-happier-life
TED Talk: Want to be happy? Be grateful.
https://www.ted.com/talks/david_steindl_rast_want_to_be_happy_be_grateful
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Our monthly challenge, This October I will..., continues! Please tell us how you are progressing and how it's going for you!
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Replies
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And it's Move It Monday! Post your Monday workout here:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10637806/move-it-monday-weekly-challenge
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This one is near and dear to me. I have a "gratitude jar" that I put a small note in every morning listing something I am grateful for. I do this as I sip my first morning coffee. I recently started adding a quote to this jar that I reflect on daily. On December 31st I will empty the jar and reflect on my many blessings. Last year I used the same jar it was my "happiness jar".5
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Great post. Like Pinky, I too have a happiness jar. My kids use it a lot and when we read the notes we have the best discussions. Before bed I give thanks, never ask or pray for anything. When I wake up I always say “ thank you”.
For this challenge I will work on cues to be more grateful throughout the day. Taking advantage of my Garmin reminder to move, I will use that to as a cue.
Today I am grateful that my husband was concerned about me, asked me questions and encouraged me. Made me feel great!!4 -
The gratitude (happiness) jar or book is something that I will do for myself, but I will put it in a place that my grandchildren can see and use when they come to visit. Maybe I will plant a little seed of gratitude in their minds while I practice mine. I'm excited about this. And the idea of not just writing down a thought, but spending a little time to really think about it makes it even more meaningful. I just need to figure out a trigger so I will not forget. First cup of coffee might be a good one for me as well.5
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@PinkyPan1 and @prgirl39mfp, I think your Happiness Jar is a great idea! I’m glad you are adopting it for your grandchildren, @nebslp! Finding a gratitude cue is important to make it more likely it becomes a habit.
I want to “bookend” my days with gratitude. Reflect on one or two things I’m grateful for as I sip my morning coffee and then again at night as I wrap up my bedtime yoga. I think of one or two things that happened during the day that made me happy that I’m grateful for. Gratitude is a good way to start and end the day!
I’m looking forward to this week!4 -
we, too, have a "gratitude jar". unfortunately I am not so consistent with it anymore. when my children were still living at home we would empty it on new years eve and reflect on our blessings throughout the year. now it mostly sits forgotten. I will revive it, move it into the kitchen and drop a note in every morning. I also choose my morning coffee as a reflection cue.
today I am grateful that in this day and age it is so easy to find support and likeminded people. thank you all!
happy Monday everyone.6 -
@birgitwebster great time to bring it back.
Today I am grateful that I feel better and that I have friends who always reach out to me and cheer me up.6 -
I practice gratitude during my devotional time each morning. I love Anne Voscamp's book 1000 Gifts. After reading it I kept a gratitude list for a very long time. I think it may be time to start a new list.6
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Gratitude is so important. I do try to practice thankfulness throughout the day, but I have not yet made writing down what I'm grateful for a habit. I did start a file in drop box, but I just looked - my last entry was June 2017. I think on of the problems with that gratitude journal is that I wrote too much about each thing I was grateful for, and then it took too much time. Rereading that journal, short lived as it was, sure was a treat though! I need to do that. Writing 200 words a day shouldn't be difficult.5
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Although I do this exercise often, I have been trying to actually write it down each day. It’s called GLAD and I like the positivity of it. Identify one thing for each letter: Grateful for, Learned today, Accomplished today, Delighted me today. 😁😁6
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Hi there my grateful buddies,
I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from @themedalist ‘s always-inspiring post & links & all of your ideas!
I frequently say out loud what I’m grateful for throughout my day and especially if I’m feeling a little down or out of sorts are struggling with something I’ll say a few things. I’ll have to think about whether I want to write them down now at my dominant arm is broken that might have to wait LOL. I can write with my left arm but it’s SLOW!
Gratefulness is definitely what helped me through the kidney transplant and now through this broken arm. It’s like magic.
I never really resonated with the word grateful. I’ve tried to think of another word that might work better for me but I just don’t worry about it anymore.
I’m grateful for my husband, our son, my family, my donor...
All of the medical inventions & training that people had to do to make the procedures I needed work including in the x-rays of Arm, My future Physical therapist even to the nurses aides and people who keep the hospital room is clean so I don’t get an infection.
It’s endless really what I’m grateful for... i’m grateful that our country is not war, I’m grateful that we have these apps for losing weight and fitness trackers to count steps which make losing weight the easiest ever (in fact I think as a sidenote that pretty soon that statistic that only 5 to 30% of people keep the weight off is going to be inverted. There are just so many people who are successful now.
I’m grateful for having a pretty happy natural biochemistry. I am grateful that I can keep things in perspective.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given a second chance! ♥️6 -
@SwimMighty what a great idea! Love GLAD
@MadisonMolly2017 sorry about your arm. You do have a great outlook and attitude.
Today I am grateful that I am alive, healthy, and happy.
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prgirl39mfp wrote: »@SwimMighty what a great idea! Love GLAD
@MadisonMolly2017 sorry about your arm. You do have a great outlook and attitude.
Today I am grateful that I am alive, healthy, and happy.
Thank you @prgirl39mfp
I realized it’s a critical skill to develop!
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SwimMighty wrote: »Although I do this exercise often, I have been trying to actually write it down each day. It’s called GLAD and I like the positivity of it. Identify one thing for each letter: Grateful for, Learned today, Accomplished today, Delighted me today. 😁😁
GLAD. I love it! Thanks so much for the suggestion, @SwimMighty. I’ve decided to swap my 1 or 2 things I’m grateful for triggered by my nightly yoga session for a full on GLAD reflection. It’s a lovely way to recap the day on a positive note.1 -
MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »Hi there my grateful buddies,
I’ve gotten a lot of ideas from @themedalist ‘s always-inspiring post & links & all of your ideas!
I frequently say out loud what I’m grateful for throughout my day and especially if I’m feeling a little down or out of sorts are struggling with something I’ll say a few things. I’ll have to think about whether I want to write them down now at my dominant arm is broken that might have to wait LOL. I can write with my left arm but it’s SLOW!
Gratefulness is definitely what helped me through the kidney transplant and now through this broken arm. It’s like magic.
I never really resonated with the word grateful. I’ve tried to think of another word that might work better for me but I just don’t worry about it anymore.
I’m grateful for my husband, our son, my family, my donor...
All of the medical inventions & training that people had to do to make the procedures I needed work including in the x-rays of Arm, My future Physical therapist even to the nurses aides and people who keep the hospital room is clean so I don’t get an infection.
It’s endless really what I’m grateful for... i’m grateful that our country is not war, I’m grateful that we have these apps for losing weight and fitness trackers to count steps which make losing weight the easiest ever (in fact I think as a sidenote that pretty soon that statistic that only 5 to 30% of people keep the weight off is going to be inverted. There are just so many people who are successful now.
I’m grateful for having a pretty happy natural biochemistry. I am grateful that I can keep things in perspective.
I’m grateful that I’ve been given a second chance! ♥️
A lovely post, @MadisonMolly2017. I’m so happy to hear that you received a kidney transplant.2 -
I can’t say that I’m surprised that our group has so many members who regularly practice gratitude. No. Not surprised at all.5
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SwimMighty wrote: »Although I do this exercise often, I have been trying to actually write it down each day. It’s called GLAD and I like the positivity of it. Identify one thing for each letter: Grateful for, Learned today, Accomplished today, Delighted me today. 😁😁
@SwimMighty I really like GLAD! Once you think about what you’ve learned, accomplished, and were delighted with, how could you not be grateful!?!
@themedalist This is a special group. I’m grateful for that.
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Just seeing this. I've been sick since Monday so haven't really been logging on. I will look at the references tomorrow, as I love this topic!
I have a jar called my "Smile" jar where I put post-it notes with things that made me feel happy that day and pull them out on New Year's Eve. I also write 5 things I'm grateful for at the end of each day in my Gratitude Journal. I've been slacking on the Smile Jar but I very rarely miss an evening of gratitude journaling.
I'm grateful for this group....and I'm very grateful for you, @themedalist ! xoxo
@SwimMighty I love the GLAD idea! What a great way to wind down a day!1 -
9/13 today.0
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Today I am grateful for opportunities and blessings. I was able to go to a job fair this week and my daughter found a job.2
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prgirl39mfp wrote: »Today I am grateful for opportunities and blessings. I was able to go to a job fair this week and my daughter found a job.
I've got some job-related, daughter-related gratitude, too. My daughter has an interview for a job that she really wants, so that's the first step toward her dream job.
@SwimMighty, love GLAD game! It reminds me of Pollyanna!0 -
Gratitude came very easy this week. It’s my daughter’s 25th birthday and we came up to Acadia, Maine to spend the weekend with her.
I am so proud of my daughter and the person she’s become.
I’ve been reading your updates and will respond very soon. Enjoy your weekend!
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themedalist wrote: »Gratitude came very easy this week. It’s my daughter’s 25th birthday and we came up to Acadia, Maine to spend the weekend with her.
I am so proud of my daughter and the person she’s become.
I’ve been reading your updates and will respond very soon. Enjoy your weekend!
Acadia!!! Heaven on Earth!
Enjoy @themedalist !!!0 -
MadisonMolly2017 wrote: »themedalist wrote: »Gratitude came very easy this week. It’s my daughter’s 25th birthday and we came up to Acadia, Maine to spend the weekend with her.
I am so proud of my daughter and the person she’s become.
I’ve been reading your updates and will respond very soon. Enjoy your weekend!
Acadia!!! Heaven on Earth!
Enjoy @themedalist !!!
It is indeed, @MadisonMolly2017. It’s just a beautiful part of the United States.
We had an interesting hike yesterday. My daughter selected a walk that she thought would be perfect for us. Lots of great views of coves and sea birds, but not very rocky, since climbing up rocks is hard for me to do. My artificial hips give me plenty of walking power, but I’m not nearly as confident stepping up as I was with my original hips. Just one of those things.
The walk she had in mind was fairly level and pretty scenic, but that was not the walk we were on yesterday...she had gotten it confused with another nearby path. Our walk yesterday had plenty of rocks and inclines! I can step up once or twice, but doing it over and over again yesterday was a challenge. Fortunately, my husband and daughter helped me every step of the way. And it was a beautiful hike!
So this morning I’m feeling very grateful for my two new hips that allow me to not only walk, walk, and walk some more, but also enable me to push my self described limits and do things I don’t normally do. I’m also grateful that I discovered meditation this year and have made it a daily practice. Meditation teaches the importance of acceptance for the way things are, instead of clinging to the way we would like them to be. I made a conscious decision early on to not stress about the difficulty of the hike or what lay ahead and just accept it as is knowing I could handle it. My acceptance skills have definitely been sharpened through meditation and I’m grateful for that.
And I’m certainly grateful for my very supportive family!
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@the medalist I❣this post! How wonderful that you pushed yourself to a new level and had such a beautiful day with your husband and daughter. Sometimes my "self described limits" (doubt+fear) is the only thing that keeps me from doing something I want to do. I have trouble accepting help from others which is a limiting factor, too. And I'm glad you have found meditation to be so useful in your daily activities. I had not thought about acceptance in the way you described but it has certainly given me something to think about. Thank you!1
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The exercise this week made me focus more on being grateful for my family. Life can get so busy that it is easy to take our loved ones for granted. I put off other tasks & chores today so I could put up Halloween decorations with my boys. We had a lot of fun and of course, I am grateful! Chores are always there & can do them tomorrow!1
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@themedalist
I am so moved by your post!!!
I will try to accept my current situation more because of what you wrote. You are an inspiration!!
Much Love,
Maddy ♥️1 -
@PackerFanInGB the Smile jar is great! What a super way to end the year. I’m stealing the idea from you. Thanks!0
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Grateful I found a job!1
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@prgirl39mfp Congrats on the new job!1
