Gratitude: The quality or feeling of being grateful or thankful.
At the time of recording this podcast, we just finished Thanksgiving, and one of my favorite things about the month of November is that social media blows up with 30 Days of Thankfulness. Being thankful for the goodness you already have in your life is healthy.
I want to challenge you to be more grateful in your life. And, that starts by starting your day with gratitude.
How to Increase Gratitude As Your Day Begins
- Start your day by waking up and thinking about all the things you’re grateful for, even if it’s just waking up.
- Think about why you’re grateful before you pick up any device or turn anything on — it prevents you from being distracted out of your gratitude.
- Write down why you’re grateful. Whether it’s a notepad, journal or scrap paper, jot down why you’re grateful.
- Do it for 15 minutes each morning, and don’t take the weekends off. That allows time for your brain to wake up and let it penetrate your entire day.
- Find things that augment feelings of gratitude. Incorporate scriptures if you’re a person of faith, if you’re not then think about quotes and advice that strengthen your mindset of gratitude.
What you do in the morning sets the template for your day. And, our morning routines really shape our day as we prepare to move ourselves forward.
That is why it is crucial to take the time first thing in the morning to start your day with gratitude.
When the challenges of life come flooding in over the course of your day, that’s when it’s important you started your day with gratitude. By starting your day with gratitude, you’re lading up with the positives so that when bad things happen, you can balance the negative with the positive.
Today, I started my day trying to be thankful. I woke up as the sun was coming up, and I began to think about all the blessings in my life — my grandson brings joy in my life, I have a beautiful home to live in, and I am thankful for my salvation in Jesus Christ. Fastforward and my wife tells me our neighbor texted us that our trash is strewn all over the road and I have to begin my day picking up garbage. Then I began my commute and I hit a pothole that caused me to spill coffee all over myself. In that moment, my gratitude got tested. I thought, “Really? I’m going to follow cleaning up trash by getting coffee all over my clothes?” But then I remembered what I was grateful for. My gratitude balanced out those negative things.
My experience goes to show that negative thoughts never lead to a positive life. So, I ask you to test me— spend 15 minutes being grateful before you start your day and see how it turns out.
