Your Next Phase with Barbara Churchill
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Your Next Phase with Barbara Churchill
Episode 82: Gratitude is a Verb
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- An amazing quote on gratitude that will change how you feel
- The health benefits of gratitude – and there many
- 10 ways to express gratitude
- My heartfelt thanks
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Hello hello! Barbara Churchill here, your hostess of Your Next Phase podcast. I’m recording this prior to the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US because I take that entire week off to celebrate. It’s my favorite time of year.
We’re continuing the series on gratitude, and I wanted to share my thoughts about that word being used as a verb. An action word. So, gratitude is a feeling, right? It can also be an action. One of my favorite quotes is from author Melody Beattie:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Doesn’t that sound heavenly?
Grateful people share the following characteristics:
- Grateful people are more: optimistic, energetic, enthusiastic, determined, interested, joyful
- They feel stronger when faced with a challenge, get more sleep, exercise more, get sick less
- Grateful people: are more likely to help others, have less clutter in their surroundings, have clear thinking, are less envious, experience less stress, are more organized, make more progress towards goals, live longer!
All good stuff, right?
Well, I’d like to take it a little deeper.
What if in addition to thinking grateful thoughts you started behaving in a grateful way?
What does that look like?
Here are 10 ways to express your gratitude with actions:
1. Gratitude journal: record what you’re thankful for before bed, in the morning, or keep a small notebook with you during the day. I write in my gratitude journal before I go to sleep. It’s a beautiful way to drift off.
2. Gratitude box – It could be like a recipe card box with 4x6 cards and dividers with the months of the year written on them. Date the 4x6 cards, 1-31 for each month. Then write down 1 thing daily and put the year after what you wrote. You can reuse these cards year after year and will have a keepsake of all you’ve been grateful for over the years in one spot!
3. List of 100 things that you’re grateful for to help get you started. Write this out by hand – studies have shown it’s the most powerful way to create energy and manifestations, rather than typing.
4. Express gratitude at the dinner table: My family has been doing this for years. We initially started because the grace we said was becoming rote and our kids weren’t invested in it. Expressing gratitude for things that happened that day keeps us all in the moment and present with the gifts that come our way – however small. (Note: We’ve done this for so long, that our kids’ friends are participating, too!)
5. Thank the people behind the service: Do you get coffee daily? Drop off dry cleaning? Have your car washed, house cleaned, shop at a store where a cashier checks you out, eat in a restaurant? When is the last time you actually thanked them for the ease they bring into your life? Use their name, make eye contact and really thank them. People just want to be noticed.
6. Give thanks for the hard stuff: Instead of regretting your mistakes or being caught up in how you were wronged and the drama that goes along with that, look at the challenges you’ve faced and be grateful for what you’ve learned. There’s always a lesson in everything.
7. Handwritten note: No typing or emailing here! Write a note of thanks to a mentor, coach, teacher, friend – someone who has influenced your life in a positive way.
8. When gathering with friends, avoid turning it into a complaint session. Start with some gratitude for what’s happening (or not happening, like illness, job loss, etc.) in your life. Notice how that affects the tone of the gathering.
9. Give thanks for the mundane. We all get caught taking our spouse or partner or people in general for granted for things they do all the time – making dinner, cleaning the bathrooms, grocery shopping, fixing stuff around the house – take time to acknowledge the small stuff, too. The people in your life will appreciate it immensely.
10.The next time you’re outside, pause and look up. Give thanks to The Universe that created the beautiful lakes right in our backyard, colorful leaves, snowflakes and breezes that cool. Nature can be taken for granted so easily in our busy lives. Pause and notice.
Put these actions into practice – choose at least one this week. See what happens. Wouldn’t it be great to start a trend?
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving my friends. And remember:
I am grateful for you and I believe in you.
