GRATITUDE HAS THE POWER TO TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE

In 1995, I was a young graduate student struggling with mild depression. I’d tried counseling, cognitive therapy, affirmations, but nothing seemed to help me dig out of the funk I was in.

One day while I was browsing at my local bookstore I came across a book of daily inspirational passages called Simple Abundance. Little did I know, that book would change my life. In it, author Sarah Ban Breathnach talks about the transformative power of gratefulness and suggests keeping a daily gratitude journal and writing down five things each day that you’re grateful for.

She writes:“Real life isn’t always going to be perfect or go our way, but the recurring acknowledgement of what is working in our lives can help us not only survive but surmount our difficulties.”

I committed to writing down five things I was grateful for each night and within a month I began to notice a shift. I began to see the world and my relationships through a lens of greater positivity as I paused to acknowledge what I was thankful for every day.

Gratitude has helped me develop a more loving relationship with myself and move through some of the greatest challenges of my life with more resilience and ease.

I like to think of it as a practice that helps us build our “emotional immune system” in the same way that we use garlic and other herbs to help boost our physical immune system.

It’s been over 20 years now since I first began this practice and gratitude has become a core part of who I am and what I teach. I’ve led gratitude retreats, taught classes on gratitude, and each year I offer a free Gratitude Challenge in November that many participants have told me has powerfully changed their lives for the better. I also ask all of my 1:1 coaching clients to engage in a daily gratitude practice during our work together.

The benefits of gratitude practice are plentiful and research is beginning to show that not only does it contribute to greater happiness and emotional wellbeing but also helps improve our physical health.

Noted gratitude researcher, Robert Emmons, says:

“Grateful people take better care of themselves and engage in more protective health behaviors like regular exercise, a healthy diet, regular physical examinations”.

Be the first to know when I launch my 21-Day Gratitude E-Course This Spring!

My individual coaching packages also include support in creating your own individual gratitude practice as well.

And if you’re a coach, healer or teacher who wants to add gratitude to your repertoire, contact me here. I’d be happy to speak to your group, be a guest on your podcast, or help you create a gratitude-themed offering for your clients!