The Power of a Gratitude Practice

Over the past year or so, I have developed a fairly elaborate gratitude practice.

My gratitude practice is slowly transforming my life. It has helped me curb my compulsive spending habits. Keeping a gratitude list has helped me transform my mindset into a much more positive tone, and it has also helped me cultivate a truly grateful attitude.

About a year ago, I started making a list each day of things and people I am grateful for. I started out my practice by listing five things each day that I was grateful for. That progressed to ten things eventually, and now my gratitude list includes fifty things that I am grateful for each day. 

There are two things that are helpful in maintaining a gratitude practice: It is easier to do it at the same time each day. I find it easiest to make my gratitude list in the mornings. Also, when I have difficulty thinking of things to be grateful for in my life, I go back to the relationships I am grateful for in my life. 

It is not easy to maintain a gratitude practice. I was pretty militant at first at keeping up with my list daily, but now I do sometimes go upwards of a week between making my gratitude lists. I have discovered this is a practice of intentionality. I have also discovered when I neglect this practice, my more negative mindset tends to creep back in. The positive mindset effects is my motivation for keeping up this practice.

As an example, here is my gratitude list for today:

Grateful Oct 7, 2024

1. I am grateful for Jared.
2. I am grateful for my marriage to Jared.
3. I am grateful I have discovered physical therapy.
4. I am grateful physical therapy is not just me doing exercises.
5. I am grateful I have a great physical therapist.
6. I am grateful for my jewelry collection.
7. I am grateful I can cut my own hair.
8. I am grateful we live in Carrollton.
9. I am grateful I am not going to bed hungry tonight.
10. I am grateful we could get ice cream tonight.
11. I am grateful that I am alive.
12. I am grateful that BG and I are communicating again.
13. I am grateful that the current hurricane isn’t headed for Georgia.
14. I am grateful I can occasionally sit on the reclining couch.
15. I am grateful for Abby sitting at my feet.
16. I am grateful for Trixie wanting to be close to Liam.
17. I am grateful Oliver has friends.
18. I am grateful Mama and Daddy have Carrollton Presbyterian Church.
19. I am grateful Jared got to meet someone who also thinks several special people in Jared’s life from his past are also special.
20. I am grateful that Jared loves me.
21. I am grateful for Covenant Presbyterian Church.
22. I am grateful that my hair is growing.
23. I am grateful that I ate a pretty balanced diet today.
24. I am grateful that I drink decaf coffee.
25. I am grateful that I could sleep in this morning.
26. I am grateful Jared is playing D&D with his friends.
27. I am grateful to have time to myself to work.
28. I am grateful to be rekindling my love of writing.
29. I am grateful the weather is good today.
30. I am grateful we have an alarm system.
31. I am grateful our dishwasher and our washing machine and dryer all work.
32. I am grateful I have a safe place to sleep tonight.
33. I am grateful my children have enough to eat.
34. I am grateful Porter still wants to spend time with us.
35. I am grateful that Porter texts me sometimes.
36. I am grateful that Porter is doing well in his college classes.
37. I am grateful that Porter doesn’t mind me tracking his phone location while he is downtown.
38. I am grateful that Porter is not giving up on his education even though he doesn’t love GSU.
39. I am grateful that we have a nice home.
40. I am grateful that we have a home.
41. I am grateful that we can pay our bills.
42. I am grateful that Liam is doing so well on learning to drive.
43. I am grateful that I still have the drive to tell my stories.
44. I am grateful that it is okay to tell my stories even if those stories have evolved from what I thought they once were.
45. I am grateful to have a blog.
46. I am grateful for my photography business.
47. I am grateful that I got to shoot a wedding at Cloudland Canyon.
48. I am grateful that I have photographed 43 weddings.
49. I am grateful for my camera gear.
50. I am grateful to have some alone time tonight.

This is my list from today. Sometimes, things from the day make it onto the next day’s list and I do not stress over whether I repeat myself. In fact, I have found that repeatedly listing the same items over again multiple times ingrain the feeling of gratitude over a certain relationship or thing. I hope my experiences with my gratitude practice helps you in your own!