Some people make New Year’s resolutions. I make Thanksgiving resolutions. Every year, I resolve to resume my practice of keeping a gratitude journal.
And every year, about three weeks later, I lose the journal. Not that this stops me. I just write my entries in some other journal, or a notebook. You may consider this weird, but for me, the act of writing things down seems to be the important part. It’s almost as if the writing action alone does something to the synapses in my brain that helps me process and store the information.
Like everybody else, though, I get those warm fuzzies more at the end of November than at any other time of the year. As it turns out, I’m hardly alone with my seasonal preoccupation with gratitude.
At Thanksgiving, people all over the country sit around tables filled with turkey, brussels sprouts, candied yams with marshmallow topping, cranberries, and pumpkin pie, and take turns sharing with their loved ones the things they feel grateful for. A wonderful tradition indeed – but what about the rest of the year?
Lately, with our growing understanding of the Law of Attraction and especially The Secret, we’ve become so much more aware of the importance of gratitude and appreciation, not just on Thanksgiving, but every day.
We know that expressing appreciation lifts our spirits and raises our vibrations. And with that, it seems to change everything around us – we start to draw to us things that we want, people that are friendlier, meetings and plans that go more smoothly. In short, things work.
Still, sometimes it can be quite a challenge to feel grateful. Deadlines have a way of getting in the way as does frustration with red tape. Annoying colleagues and bosses do too, as do incompetent or aggressive drivers, infused with road rage.
Ultimately, there are simply too many things on everybody’s plate. It has gotten so bad that some people’s idea of a really great time is a good night’s sleep.
I dare you to try an experiment. On a day when you’ve gotten up on the wrong side of your bed, and things have gone from bad to worse, take a few minutes to reflect. What is there in your life, right now, for which you are grateful – or could be, if you made an effort, a really hard effort if necessary?
Yes, it’s hard to find things to be grateful for when things are scary and not going well. But the happier you can make yourself feel, outward circumstances notwithstanding, the more likely you will be to get a new job, especially a new job is one that will work well for you.
Sometimes I think of it as some kind of grateful pill that makes everything better. Of course, that’s when I remember to take it. Here’s where the challenge comes in, though: how to make sure I remember?
We don’t seem to have too much trouble with taking prescription drugs or other kinds of medication every day. How do we manage to remember that? Before I started taking the pill for the first time, I was very worried that I’d forget. And you know what? Over those 10 years I took it, I forgot it maybe twice.
What helped me then was the same thing that will work here as well: creating a routine. Probably the easiest way to do that is by keeping a daily gratitude journal, with emphasis on daily. Just keep it on your bedside table and write into it every night. That’s how I remembered the pill. That, and a little flower sticker on my bathroom mirror.
The important part is this: every time you see it and write in it, it will realign your thinking. And once you do that, your vibes improve, and the Law of Attraction will, once again, begin to attract the things that are in line with what you really want.