The gratitude challenge is over for this year, yet I hope that you have gained a practice that will continue well into the future. I am filled up on recognizing so much from the past, especially, it has helped me see many things in a different light.
Admittedly, I am pretty good at day to day and recent past gratitudes. This year I was ready to go back to my childhood and my years growing up to have gratitude for so much I had not thought about. You see, for many years I was truly stuck with many things from the past that were not good. I could not see the goodness as I was so preoccupied with everything hurtful, upsetting and just not great. Instead of just being preoccupied I have been working diligently and patiently processing these thoughts and memories.
I am pleasantly surprised to be on the other side of this. It doesn’t mean those memories don’t come up any more, but they are lessened in charge and frequency. Having the door open to embracing the goodness is such a gift. I have been feeling grateful for the two trips I got to go on in high school because I was in the band. I have been feeling grateful for the activities I got to take part in, the teachers I had, our neighborhood and neighbors. If you had any trouble with the big week of the challenge, going to the past for gratitudes, way back all the way to early adulthood, you might find some good materiel.
Or maybe you find yourself where I was. It’s okay. Work with it. Find people to help you sort through it. Look harder than I did to find the goodness now, though. There are always gratitudes to be found when we look hard for them.
One last plug for this year on gratitude. Having a consistent gratitude practice, even writing down a few things each day before bed, is good for your body, mind, spirit and soul- and this is research based news.
From personal experience I can tell you that the consistent practice has built me up and has become a buffer for me against things that happen that aren’t pleasant or are downright awful. I still feel them, but my gratitude practice buffer gives me resilience, it softens the blow, it allows me to pause and gain perspective instead of reacting.
So, where do you go from here with gratitude? I hope you keep going. Keep going for the next year and then see what is happening in your life.
I love this saying that when you look on purpose for things to be grateful for you see more and more to be grateful for. Good things multiply in front of you. They were likely always there, you just weren’t tuned in to noticing them.
If you did join in on this year’s challenge, I am grateful you were on this journey with me. Thank you.