I loved Yvonne Marcus’ words about gratitude in a blog she wrote several weeks ago and reached out to her to do a guest blog on Mompowerment. See her thoughts on integrating a gratitude practice into your life.
Hello lovely ladies of Mompowerment! I’m so excited to be here with you today. My name is Yvonne Marcus and my goal is to empower moms to live the #momlife they want. I hope that you’ll enjoy this post on how to get your joy back through the practice of gratitude!
Listen, I know we’ve heard this so much lately. We’ve heard that gratitude can change our lives, but we’ve found it difficult to put it into practice. I promise that it doesn’t have to be some elaborate practice. I also promise that it will turn your day around.
First, I’ll admit that gratitude practice did not come easily to me. I’m the kind of person who needs a pretty notebook and stickers to draw her into something. I bought a special book just for writing my daily gratitude in, and I found it life changing for sure. I’m also the kind of person who isn’t going to write an entire journal post. Funny huh? I mean I come here and write blog posts 3 days a week, but I’m not going to write an entire journal entry on gratitude! Honestly, I just don’t express myself that way. I didn’t keep a consistent diary as a little girl either. I think this is the #1 thing to think about before you start your gratitude practice. How do you normally express yourself?
For instance, I’m a list maker, but I only like to make pretty lists. My handwriting isn’t great. My drawing is laughable as in I can’t draw a straight line with a ruler laughable. This is why I love stickers. They’re easy and you have hundreds of options. You may prefer to draw or write a journal entry. You should do gratitude your way.
Why should you make gratitude a life changing habit?
- You can look back on your gratitude practice later and have a physical manifestation of your feelings to help you through bad days or share with others.
- At the end of a hard day, you’ll be able to relax and think about the good parts. You’ll be more relaxed.
- It will change your mood and outlook.
I promise that all of these things are true. Remember the evening you spent with a screaming toddler? That will fade away as you remember those amazing smiles from the morning. They’ll fade as you think about the laughter that filled your house as you played a game of chase around the kitchen. Those are the moments that will sustain you through the bad ones. The ones where you really want to scream at your child, but you also don’t want to because you’ll feel bad. You know what I’m talking about!
How Can I start my practice?
- Think about how you normally express yourself and think about how you can practice gratitude through it.
- Do it every day for a month.
I’m not going to say that you’ll see a HUGE return at the end of 30 days, but I definitely notice a change in myself and my reaction to outside stimuli. The results are often subtle, but I think they’ll be enough for you to want to sustain the practice. This only works if you do it your way.
Why I love my gratitude practice?
I love my gratitude practice because it helps me to see that my day isn’t all bad or all good. It helps to reset my mind at the of what can feel like a very long day.
What happens when I practice gratitude?
- I start looking for the good moments that I can write about later.
- I end my day feeling happier.
- I sleep better.
My gratitude practice happens in the evenings before bed. I do this so I don’t forget things that happened that day, and I’m able to really think about the day as a whole. You may want to do it as things happen or in the mornings. It’s all about creating the perfect gratitude space for yourself.
The most important part of any gratitude practice is that it makes you feel good about your life, your world, and your day. We’re all going to go through rough patches. We’re all going to have bad moments, but I truly believe we don’t have to throw out entire days to those moments.
How to treat yourself during your practice…
- Don’t judge yourself. You’ll learn and grow what works best as you practice.
- Include the small things. They matter a lot more than you think.
- Make your practice your own.
Yvonne Marcus is passionate about helping moms to mom their way. She is a lifestyle and clarity coach for moms. Her major passion is helping you to go from hot mess to got it together by creating a #momlife that you want to live aka you won’t turn into your mom! Yvonne lives in Asheville, North Carolina where she enjoys spending time with her husband, reading, and long hikes through the mountains with her 20 month old. Okay so maybe not long hikes unless daddy is with them, but they’re definitely enjoying all that Asheville has to offer. You can read more about how Yvonne practices gratitude and lives the life of her dreams at www.thedahliascene.com
