Self Care Challenge – Day 12
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”
-Melody Beattie
Have you ever considered writing a gratitude list at the end of each day? This is the self care challenge I offer today. It’s very simple. At the end of the day, take a few minutes to reflect and ask yourself, “what am I grateful for in this day”? Write 3-5 things you can be grateful for.
This offering is part of a prayer ritual I started many years ago when I was going through a difficult time. I was frustrated at the person who suggested it. At the time I didn’t feel grateful for much and I felt like they were telling me they didn’t want me to have any feelings unless they were good ones.
I was really wrong about that! They were actually helping me pay attention to all the parts of my day, not just the hard stuff, which, of course, always seems louder than the good stuff. The practice of gratitude helped me find balance.
Some days this is not easy. On those days when everything feels like it goes wrong it feels like torture to find anything to be grateful about but If you can’t think of anything? How about being grateful for electricity, clean water, money for food? There’s always something and maybe it’s being grateful for the awful things that happen. They usually teach us the most about ourselves…
Blessings and a wish that you feel the joy and pain of each day because you must understand one to feel the other deeply!
Lori Howes
