Gratitude – Even in the times your not feeling it! One of my great pals Irene bought me a gratitude book for my birthday in January and I must admit I was great to write in it for the first few weeks – but I turned lazy fast. The truth of the matter is we should all be practicing gratitude on a daily basis. It’s so good for the soul!
Why should we practice gratitude? You may not feel as though you take your life for granted, but when you actually sit back and take time to think about what you are thankful for you will begin to find so much happiness all around you. When times are harder, it shines a light on everything that is positive in our lives. It also helps to boost our mood. I can always look back at what I wrote previously to remember how good I felt at that time.
3 simple ways to help you bring more gratitude into your life…
- Choose to write or type: It is totally up to you whether you want to write on paper or type into your notes section daily. I love the book I was given and the feeling of writing pen to paper (a bit like dear diary) which we all loved growing up. I have friends that find it more convenient to type into notes on their phone each day and that’s totally fine too. There are also many gratitude apps out there – just type it into the App Store and you have many to choose from.
- Set a Reminder: I set a reminder on my phone which goes off at 8pm every night. That way I have a visual reminder on my phone that I can get to after the littles have gone to bed. The reminder stays there until I turn it off and it really helps me to be accountable.
- Feel all the feelings: At first you might write down more obvious things you are grateful for in your life like; health, family, friends. By describing what you are grateful for using different senses you will find that you are digging a little deeper (always feel like Sean T saying that) and find more simple things to be grateful for each day. I write between 3-5 things each night. An example from my journal is… “The hearty laughs out of Aoibhie today as she was telling her big sister something she found hilarious from when she was at school!” I mean what’s better then the sound of siblings laughing.
Although things are a little strange right now – it is so important to go to bed feeling happy and content. Everyone is feeling so many emotions. For myself anxiety and stress is at an all time high – so much so, that I am having a flare up all over my body with psoriasis which has never happened to me before. I have friends that are so worried, they are suffering with insomnia and I’m positive that Covid 19 has hit people in so many ways that they weren’t expecting them. I guess making sure we see the good things that happen to us each day and realizing we are all in this together will put a stop to some of the bad feelings that try to creep in.
I am taking comfort in the small things and being grateful for some positives Covid 19 has brought to us like – hubby bringing me a cup of tea in bed before the day begins. When the two bigger girls finish their home schooling each day and are happy with what they achieved. Sitting down for dinner as a family – which is something we never had the time to do midweek. Enjoying swimming in our pool and being thankful for the blue skies of Dubai. The proud face of Aoibhie as she learnt how to ride her bike. The fact Cadhla-Rose was beaming ear to ear when she got 10/10 for the first time in year 6. The fact that FiFi has never been so happy – what’s not to love!? All your family at home each day.
Not listed are the f bombs that are whispered under my breath when I’ve just had enough with homeschool or the fact 5 people a dog and a tortoise since the 17th of March is hard. That I miss the beach terribly. I miss shopping. I miss my friends and I wonder where my patience has gone some days. However – I am trying to remain as positive as I can!
So let’s all be grateful for the little wins each day and embrace the positives where we can….
Stay home and stay safe!
Love, Helly x