When you start to incorporate gratitude into your life you will notice a glow about yourself. You know how excited you get about a vacation or a party you are attending or a family wedding? I want you to be that excited about your life every day. Every day is not a party, but every day can be great if you allow the little things to bring the same excitement.
When it comes to your gratitude journal I do encourage you to concentrate on as many small things as possible. Going along with this is something I harp on all the time. We have to stop taking so much of our lives for granted. We have to change our definition of joy to include the every day little things that can make us happy if we just let them. You've all heard me rave on and on about my favorite body scrub from Bath and Body works. How I look forward to it, how I really savor the process of using it and the scent, and how it makes my leg and feet feel afterwards. You either find this to be completely idiotic or you wish you could get this excited over something like this. I hope it is the latter.
When you notch down your expectations, you will find so much more to be happy about. I read an article once that was talking about life really being about the big moments and you just try to get from one to the next. I couldn't disagree more. Life can be great every day if you find joy in your every day. If we can find the same joy and excitement in things that we experience every day as the big moments in our life, we are guaranteed to glow! Every day is not a vacation, I totally get that. It doesn't mean we can't enjoy life until we get to vacation. We need to find joy in things we usually take for granted. Beautiful flowers, a scented candle, a warm bath, a day spent in the sunshine reading, having a favorite meal with your family, seeing your children laugh. It's all these moments that add up to a happier, more fulfilled life.
Find new and different ways to incorporate these things into your life. For example, I love fresh cut flowers in the house. I don't get them very often because I'm cheap and I don't like to spend the money. But I do have flowers all over my yard outside. I don't know why but it never occurred to me to cut some of my own flowers and put them in a vase in my house until my sister did it for me last year when I was visiting. She got my favorites (gerber daisies) and cut some off to put in the bedroom I was sleeping in. Isn't that sweet. And I was glowing with gratitude! I don't know why it never occurred to me to do this before, it just didn't. But now I do it all the time.
Find these little things in your life to be grateful for, embrace them with the enthusiasm of a 4-year old on Christmas morning and write them down...every day! You will soon find that you enjoy your daily life much more and feel happier every day.
It's #cocktailfriday y'all! I hope you can take some time to unwind and relax this weekend. And grab a cold one..it's gonna be hot out there. Now, go be the badass I know you are! I'm cheering you on.
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