Practicing Gratitude with Ange Simson
Times like this can bring out the best, and worst in people. I believe it’s our challenges that really define our character and, trust me, this time has been challenging.
Who would have thought our whole lives would have been put on hold? That we would be restricted around travel, seeing our friends and our freedom to go where we please?
I’ve been studying and practicing gratitude as a passion for almost 8 years. And one thing I can tell you to be true is that every situation has a meaning that you give to it.
Right now there is someone relishing in this time away from their stressful job, working on being better with their finances while they’re restricted and finding ways to live in alignment with their passions moving forward. Someone is getting lots of rest, someone is connecting deeper with their children, someone is learning a new skill.
There are also people who are angry, and that’s ok. Someone is sitting at home calling everyone they know to tell them how they can’t pay rent this month, yelling at the call centre girl because their government payment hasn’t come in yet for the work they’re losing, watching lots of Netflix and eating their weight in cheese.
Right now, you have a choice which you get to be. And I believe in my heart that gratitude is the path to being calm, centred and grounded during this time. So I would love to give you some tips to practice soul nourishing gratitude while this is playing out.
And it’s ok if you’re angry, if you’ve been unresourceful, if you’re sad. But again, you’ve got a choice right now which path to take. And I promise you, this one feels better.
Start Small
A general gratitude practice that I recommend for everyone, no matter what stage of life, is a simply, daily task.
When you wake up in the morning, take a moment to feel what is going on for you. What feels nice? My warm body under the covers. Do I have any tension? Breathe into it for a few minutes. Am I feeling stressed, anxious, optimistic or joyful about the day ahead?
Once you’ve checked in. Take a moment for gratitude using these prompts if you need:
What am I excited about?
Who am I lucky enough to connect with today?
What makes me happy?
And write them down. Putting pen to paper helps you retain information better, so you’ll connect much more with your good feelings and emotions.
2. Finish the Day Grateful
Evening gratitude practices are a little different to morning.
For most people, the evening is a time to reflect on what didn’t get done, what is on the to do list for tomorrow and scrolling social media. Which is interesting that so many people struggle with a natural sleep routine.
Before winding down, I’d recommend not looking at a screen for at least an hour, not eating food 2 hours before sleep and having dim lighting on and calming music.
Grab your journal and think about events that happened during the day that made you happy, joyful, optimistic or content. No matter how big or small, this exercise works! Now write down that event again, as it happened and how it made you feel.
What this does is it allows you to mentally relive that moment, and your body will release a small amount of the same happy hormones that were released in your body when it was actually happening. Like a mini hit of dopamine and oxytocin. Not only does this help us sleep better, but it allows our body to move into a healing rest. The more we can feel good and not stressed and anxious, the better our body can perform and support us the next day and into the future.
3. Share the Love
Lastly, happiness shared is happiness multiplied.
When we feel good, and consciously work to help others to feel good, we create a ripple effect of positivity in the world that we can’t even comprehend.
Each day, make it a mission to share with someone why you’re grateful for them. It can be a simple thank you text to someone who helped you out or letting your family know you love and appreciate them. It can be a phone call to an old friend to talk about memories that make you smile. It can be an appreciation post on social media to someone who you follow and admire who has helped shape you into a happier or healthier person. But making people feel good, makes you feel good in return.
At the end of the day, we want to focus on having more positive emotions than negative. And during times like this, when there is plenty of uncertainty that we can’t control daily, it’s so much more helpful to focus on what we can control, what we can do instead. This empowers us to remember that no matter what is going on in the world around us, we are responsible only for how we show up in the world and how we treat ourselves and others.
Ange Simson, The Gratitude Project.
