If something goes wrong, if we are not happy, if people are bad with us, if we are exhausted by the million garlands and arrows of everyday life … But in reality, this is the moment when it matters most. Once you’ve mastered Home Builder the first 9 items on this list, you’re ready to master them. I am so glad that you have settled and that it is going well. Yes, we all have a lot to be thankful for and a safe and warm home is at the top of the list.
But for now, with me as the primary cleaner, I am grateful that I have a smaller space to clean. In a few years, if we’ve saved more money, we might be able to innovate, and that will match more hands to clean up the bigger space. When Thom and I decided to adjust our housing scheme to about half of the space we had before, I was honestly unsure if it would work. I agreed to try it as a kind of “experiment” and wrote more detail about the process in a previous post.
This following suggestion is interesting: try to make your gratitude social. It makes sense to think of others by practicing gratitude, because it is our relationships with other people that determine our happiness the most. So maybe an idea you can use is to write a letter of thanks (this will be explained in more detail later!) or share moments of thanks for the day at the table. Make time every day to consider 5-10 things you are thankful for – really visualize it in your mind and observe feelings of gratitude in your body. Consciousness helps reconnect the brain to be more naturally grateful and as such you will feel happier every time you practice gratitude. All it takes is 8 weeks of gratitude for people to show different brain patterns that result in more empathy and happiness.
Once you feel the endorphins are flowing, showing gratitude will be even easier and you will be able to make a list after list of all the things in your life that you are thankful for. Soul Pancake, a group that discovered “lucky science,” conducted an experiment encouraging people to write a letter to a person they were grateful for. In itself, this exercise increased its happiness levels from 2 to 4%.
As we get closer to Thanksgiving, one that looks very different from last year, it’s the perfect time to add some life to a daily practice of gratitude. Even before I entered my friend’s house, I was grateful for being about to take care of my children as I continued my writing career. I was grateful that there was another person above three meters tall to speak. I was grateful that your lovely children made my children’s day by including them in their games.
It is a simple habit that helps us to notice and appreciate the blessing of food on the table. Sometimes it is not enough to keep your gratitude to yourself. You can increase your feelings of gratitude by expressing the same gratitude to the people you care about.