Gratitude

We did a few mindfulness exercises this weekend, different ways to calm your body and mind and observe the world around you. My favorite exercise was one that required us to look at the world through the lens of gratitude. It seemed so simple – all we had to do was write five things we were thankful for from that day (or just in general, if you couldn’t think of five things) on an index card. I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can improve this or that part of my life, so taking time to actively consider all the parts of my day that I appreciated allowed me to think of the flip side of that – all that was good and wonderful. Taking just a moment to think over these things was enough to make that day seem even better – and on days of my life that I haven’t had the best day, spending a moment in gratitude seems like the best way to put it all in perspective. One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year was to write in my journal every day. I decided to add to that after that exercise – each day, I would also write something I was grateful for.