06/20/2024
🧘♀️ Sinking deeper into a gratitude practice.
I have a gratitude practice. Over the years, clients, friends, and others have asked me if there's something more they can do with their gratitude, practice. Because more often than not, it feels surface level to them.
I can relate to this. I struggled with it for a long time.
Seeing a tree outside of my window, I can easily say to myself, "I am grateful for that tree."
But that's just words. If I don't go deeper with it, it certainly does feel very surface level.
So I invite myself, and others when they ask, to go a level deeper with gratitude practice.
Is there a physical or emotional sensation I can feel about that tree? Does it bring a sense of peace? When I watch the branches and leaves sway, does it feel soothing? Is it aesthetically pleasing? Does it provide shade? Or do I remember a time that the tree was not there, and the sun blinded me, while the heat beat down on me when I would sit in front of the window?
It's one thing to take a look at food in the refrigerator and think that you are grateful for it. But again, that is sometimes just words. Can you remember a time where the refrigerator was mostly empty? Or a time that you were really hungry and did not have access to food? What was that like in comparison to now?
Or is there a benefit to seeing food in the refrigerator? Does the simple knowledge of knowing that it is there, allow you to focus on other things in your life that are important to you? Do you get to experience your day with a clearer mind and less stress, instead of having a scarcity mindset, worrying about food?
What is it like to be grateful for the friends in your life? Is it simply just mentioning to yourself that you are grateful for them? Or can you go deeper? Can you appreciate how they care for you? How it feels to care for them? do you feel more seen, heard, understood when you are with them? Do you offer them the understanding and space so they feel similarly about you? Do you get to revel in laughter, playfulness, tears, deep conversations with them, that may ultimately leave you feeling loved and accepted for who you are? And do they get to feel the same because of how present you are for them? What would it be like to not have that specific friend in your life now? How would you feel? If you're not sure, take a look at the emotion wheel and see if you can go a little more deeply with it. (I'll put a basic version of one in the comments.)
If your gratitude practice is simply just a list of things, and it feels surface, like words to you, try to go a level deeper with it and see what happens in your practice.
