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Gratitude: Big power in the little things

December 13, 2013 Written by Curt Rosengren

A while ago I posted about my experiment of wearing a “thank you” button. One of the outcomes of that experiment was a greater awareness of opportunities for gratitude as I go about my day-to-day life.

That awareness isn’t a high volume chorus line extravaganza. It’s more of a steady low-grade hum. While there are certainly things in my life that I’m grateful for in a big way, what I notice most is how much more I notice the small things. For example:

  • The coffee I have at a coffee shop
  • The barrista who was funny and pleasant with me
  • The beauty of the artwork on the coffee shop wall
  • The fact that my arm functions healthily and easily as I lift the coffee cup to my mouth
  • The taste of the coffee
  • The feel of my arm in motion
  • The fact that I’m being aware of opportunities to be grateful

And on and on it goes. It’s not about big rushes of gratitude – frankly, that would be exhausting. Rather, it’s an ongoing small-scale noticing. And what you notice shapes your life.

How gratitude can change your life

If you want to change your life, change what you focus on. Imagine there are two of you in parallel universes. You each get up in the morning and have the exact same identical day – with one exception. One of you gets sucked into lack-based thinking (I don’t have enough, I’m not enough), and the other of you habitually gravitates towards noticing things to be grateful for.

Exact same day. Exact same mishaps and irritations. And two completely different experiences.

I know it can be easier said than done to change to that more positive perspective. It doesn’t tend to happen with the wave of a magic wand. But like so many things, it’s a habit you can develop.

Gratitude: Shine a light on the specks of dust

When you first start focusing on gratitude, it’s typically the big things that you notice. But over time, as you exercise that gratitude-recognition muscle, you’ll find that the small things pop up in your awareness more and more.

It’s like turning a spotlight on in a dark room and suddenly seeing all the specks of dust floating in the air. They were always there, but until you shined the light on them, you didn’t notice.

The more you notice the small things, the more you notice that they really are everywhere. Life has a high density of little gratitudes, if we’ll just flip the light on and practice seeing what’s there.

And the more we notice, the more that shapes how we experience our days.

When it comes to gratitude, there’s big power in noticing the little things.
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Write a Gratitude Journal: 30-Day Experiment

January 4, 2013 Written by Curt Rosengren

[This is one of a series of 30-Day Experiments to do this year instead of New Year’s resolutions.]

If you want a surefire way to improve your life, both emotionally and physically, gratitude journaling is it. You can go as hog-wild as you want with it, but in its simplest sense it is simply focusing on what you’re grateful for by writing it down.

It’s not just a nice warm fuzzy idea. There is a bucketload (the technical term, I believe) of research showing the very real and wide-reaching impact that gratitude has.

Here’s an excellent primer on what research has found on the benefits of gratitude, which can include:

Physical
• Stronger immune systems
• Less bothered by aches and pains
• Lower blood pressure
• Exercise more and take better care of their health
• Sleep longer and feel more refreshed upon waking

Psychological
• Higher levels of positive emotions
• More alert, alive, and awake
• More joy and pleasure
• More optimism and happiness

Social
• More helpful, generous, and compassionate
• More forgiving
• More outgoing
• Feel less lonely and isolated.

While there is no “right way” to gratitude journal, here are some tips to get you started.

  • Make it easy to start with. Keep the journal next to your bed and jot down five things you’re grateful for before you go to bed. Keep it to a one-sentence description. Review the list the next morning when you get up to start your day. Over the thirty days, if you find yourself wanting to dive in deeper, feel free to up the number of things in your list or the amount you write. But if it starts to feel onerous, dial it down again.
  • Ask questions. Go through these gratitude-prompting questions to help prompt ideas for what to write.
  • Make it real. Don’t just mechanically go through the motions of writing things down. Try to really feel the gratitude.
  • Remember, size doesn’t matter. This isn’t about finding grandiose things to be grateful for. If they’re there, great. But it might just as well be gratitude for savoring a cup of coffee.
  • Make your day a gratitude zone. As you go through your day, make a conscious effort to notice things to be grateful for. That will both have a positive effect on your day and make your Gratitude Journaling easier.

Ultimately, it’s about whatever works for you. Play with it and see what feels most natural, fun, and effective.

If you decide to take this 30-Day Experiment on, keep us posted here on how it goes!

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17 gratitude-prompting questions for your Gratitude Journal

January 4, 2013 Written by Curt Rosengren

Research shows that Gratitude Journaling can have an immensely positive impact on both your emotional and physical well-being. Unfortunately, most people’s gratitude muscles are a bit flabby. If you want to take a crack at Gratitude Journaling, but find yourself up against an industrial strength case of writer’s block.

Here are some questions to help get you started (and if you want to go really wild and crazy with it, here’s another post with seventeen more gratitude prompting questions).

  1. Who do I appreciate?
  2. How am I fortunate?
  3. What material possessions am I thankful for?
  4. What abilities do I have that I’m grateful for?
  5. What about my surroundings (home/neighborhood/city/etc.) am I thankful for?
  6. What experiences have I had that I am grateful for?
  7. What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that I am  grateful for?
  8. What opportunities do I have that I am thankful for?
  9. What have others in my life done that I am thankful for?
  10. What have others done that I am benefiting from in my life (even if I don’t know who those people are)?
  11. What relationships am I thankful for?
  12. What am I taking for granted that, if I stop to think about it, I am grateful for?
  13. What is there about the challenges/difficulties I have experienced (or am currently experiencing) that I can be thankful for? (e.g., What have I learned? How have I grown?)
  14. What is different today than it was a year ago that I’m thankful for?
  15. What insights have I gained that I am grateful for?
  16. What am I able to offer others that I am grateful for?
  17. What opportunities to help others am I thankful for?

These questions are a great start, but don’t stop there. Come up with your own questions. Brainstorm as many gratitude-prompting questions as you can think of and start answering those as well.

By the time you finish all the questions, you’ll have a really deep picture of the gratitude in your life. You’ll also have a great resource to go back through on those days when you’re feeling a bit bah humbug.

What other gratitude prompting questions come to mind? Post them here!

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Gratitude Monday: What are you grateful for?

April 23, 2012 Written by Curt Rosengren

I’ve fallen off the blogging wagon the last couple weeks, and what better time to pick it up than Gratitude Monday morning. (Read more on the benefits of gratitude.)

So much to be grateful for.

The support of my parents

The support of my friends

A gorgeously beautiful sunny day (on top of several gorgeously beautiful sunny days)

The fact that I live ten minutes from a several hundred acre, wooded park

The critters that come to visit me

The fact that I’m still growing (and can even see the progress, sometimes)

The inspiration I feel about the potential impact of the Ripple Revolution

People who inspire me by their work to make the world a better place

Trees

How about you? What are you grateful for? I would love to hear three things (or more – I’m not limiting you!) in the comments.

Happy Monday!

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The bazillion benefits of gratitude

March 26, 2012 Written by Curt Rosengren

thank you
What if there were an easy way to improve your sense of well-being so you could feel happier and more content with your life? Somothing so simple, anyone could do it with next to no effort. And what if it could have a positive impact on your physical health at the same time? Best of all, what if there were extensive research to back up those positive results?

Of course, since I’m blogging about it, by now you have figured out that there is a way. And it’s not a magic wonderpill; it’s gratitude.

Enough research has been done on the impact of gratitude that it even caught the attention of conservative mainstream publications like the Wall Street Journal. Here’s what a recent WSJ article had to say:

A growing body of research suggests that maintaining an attitude of gratitude can improve psychological, emotional and physical well-being.

Adults who frequently feel grateful have more energy, more optimism, more social connections and more happiness than those who do not, according to studies conducted over the past decade. They’re also less likely to be depressed, envious, greedy or alcoholics. They earn more money, sleep more soundly, exercise more regularly and have greater resistance to viral infections.

It’s like a wonder-drug! With benefits like that, how can you resist? Even if you don’t naturally feel grateful, it’s easy to train that gratitude muscle, just by making it a point to focus on what you’re grateful for.

Sometimes it’s just a matter of remembering to remember that we have things to be grateful for. It’s so easy for an awareness of all we’re blessed with to fade into the background.

Try this: At least once every day, stop and ask yourself, “What am I grateful for right now?” Challenge yourself to create a daily gratitude habit. Commute to work? Try kicking off your day by spending part of that time mulling over reasons to be grateful.

The more you focus on it, the more your mind naturally looks for reasons to be grateful. And the more you look for them, the more you notice them. And the more you notice them, the more grateful you feel.

[image by psd]

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Gratitude Monday: What are you grateful for?

March 26, 2012 Written by Curt Rosengren

thank you
It’s Monday, and that means it’s time to put my gratitude hat on, and I’ll hope you’ll join me! Each Monday, in a nod to what a positive impact gratitude can have on our lives, I focus a post on what I’m grateful for.

It’s too easy to get lost in both the challenges and busyness of life, and forget how much we really have to be grateful for. Even when things are going completely to hell, we can almost always find reasons for gratitude if we step back and look for them.

I had a spectacularly hard week last week. Rather than fluidly living my life, I was busy imploding. And I must confess, I kinda forgot the whole gratitude dealio.

I’m not fully past the challenges I was encountering at the time, but I have managed to find more solid ground to stand on. And from this vantage point, it’s doubly obvious how important it is to focus on what I’m thankful for rather than on what sucks. So on to the gratitude!

My parents just left this morning after coming up from Oregon for the weekend. Since I’ve spent so much time with them the last couple days, my gratitude for them is up front and center. I’m grateful that I hit the parental lottery and was lucky enough to be raised by them, and I’m grateful that I enjoy them so much as an adult. I’m grateful that they live close enough to visit easily (4 hours away), though I wish they lived a little closer.

Some other things I’m grateful for today:

  • Discovery Park (a several hundred acre wooded park about ten minutes from me)
  • Trees
  • Friends who believe in me
  • Amma
  • People who love the Ripple Revolution idea
  • Local farmers
  • People who are as inspired as I am by the idea of making the world a better place
  • People who inspire me by their efforts to make the world a better place

How about you? What are you grateful for today? Share three things in the comments (more if you can’t stop yourself). Go on. I dare you! And if you have a blog, why not add your own Gratitude Monday post? It’s not a bad way to start the week.

[image by vistamommy]

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Introducing Gratitude Monday: What are you grateful for?

March 12, 2012 Written by Curt Rosengren


Welcome to the premiere post of Gratitude Monday! It’s something new inspired by the power of gratitude to make a positive impact on our own lives, and the desire readers have been expressing to connect with other Ripple Revolutionaries – people who really care about making a difference, and who believe it can be a joy ride along the way.

Each Gratitude Monday, I’m going to post some things I’m grateful for. It might be just a short laundry list, or it might be a full-on description. And then I would love for you to chime in.

I invite you to do any or all of these…

  • Share what you’re grateful for in the comments (it could be as easy as a laundry list of three things – make it easy on yourself!).
  • Read what others are grateful for.
  • Share your thoughts.
  • Come back next week and do it again.

So on to my Gratitude List…

  • I’m grateful that I have friends who will reach out to me when I’m isolating in my cave and pull me out.
  • I’m grateful for that first cup of coffee in the morning.
  • I’m grateful for the opportunity to spend time every morning with an inspiring book.
  • I’m grateful for the scanner my sister and her husband gave me so I could scan the hundreds of family history photos I’ve accumulated over the years.
  • I’m grateful that I have friends who see me as I really am, not how I sometimes think I am.
  • I’m grateful that I live somewhere (Seattle) with so much natural beauty.
  • I’m grateful for the opportunity to see other people’s lives change for the better as a result of their interactions with me.

How about you? What are you grateful for? Please share – I would love to know!

[image by woodleywonderworks]

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