I recently attended a class (thank you Kurt and Tracy) that helped me realize that I had been missing a daily dose of gratitude from my life. I've always been grateful for the people and things in my life, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I actually started spending part of my day listing a few of those people and things. Now, I begin each morning sitting outside in my backyard with my 12 ounces of caffeinated coffee and two wonderful doggies. I sit back in my chair and bask in the coolness and peacefulness of the early morning. I listen to the hundreds of birds greeting each other (I LOVE the sound of birds) and can't help but begin my daily dose of gratitude by saying that I'm grateful for the birds. Then, the gratitude comes pouring out of my mouth...I'm grateful for the chair I'm sitting in, I'm grateful for the cup that is holding my coffee, I'm grateful for the robe that is keeping me warm, I'm grateful for the sound of my husband's alarm clock going off in the background (that's because he'll come out shortly and give me a kiss good morning :)), I'm grateful for my hands that are holding my coffee, I'm thankful for my ears that allow me to hear the sound of the birds, I'm grateful for each breath that I take, I'm grateful for....the list keeps going. Once I'm done saying my daily dose of gratitude, I feel a wonderful feeling of peace, love, and compassion spread throughout my body. I am grateful for getting to be grateful.
As a teacher, I enjoy trying to incorporate my new lifes' lessons into my educational lessons whenever possible. I've taught my students about affirmations (they say, "I am smart. I can do anything"). I've taught my students about speaking things into existence...if you always say you're not good at reading, you'll never be good at reading; instead, say "I am good at reading."I wanted to teach my students about gratitude.
When I first thought about using the word gratitude in my classroom, I realized that the only time I ask my students to tell me what they're grateful for is during Thanksgiving. I wanted them to be grateful for someone and something EVERY day...not just once a year. Therefore, I decided that I wanted to start "Gratitude Journals" where the students would respond to the same sentence frame "I am grateful for _____ because ______," every day. Can you imagine how many things they'll be grateful for by the end of the school year? When I first asked my 4th and 5th graders to tell me what they were grateful for and that it had to be non-living (they always say "family" so I wanted to change it up a bit), they asked, "How can I write about something I'm grateful for if it's not alive?" I ended up giving my students examples (the funnier the better). I told them I was grateful for my blow dryer because it dried my hair in the morning. I told them I was grateful for having glasses because it allowed me to see their beautiful faces. I told them that I was grateful for having a classroom because it allowed me to teach their brilliant minds. After some examples, they started writing. I was pretty surprised at how hard it was for them, especially the "because" part. I know they'll get the hang of it.
Why is gratitude so important? Well, from my ENFJ perspective, it's because the Universe gives us everything we need and when we say we are grateful for something, that makes us feel like we are abundant, as opposed to, not having enough. Gratitude fills you with positive energy; craving, yearning, needing things fills you with negative energy. When you say what you're grateful for, you realize that you have so much!
I broke my tibia and fibula one year ago. I ended up having surgery and was introduced to new forms of transportation...a walker, a wheelchair, and crutches. I am SO GRATEFUL for the many lessons I learned from my experience. It made me a better person. I am planning on contributing one of my future posts to explaining my experience, but not right now. I just wanted to tell you a little about it because I was and am so grateful for it. There are many "I'm grateful for's" that were created because of it.
What are you grateful for? Try saying a few things every morning...it will feel so good!
P.S. In my last post, I said I'd talk more about affirmations...obviously, I didn't follow through :) I promise to talk about affirmations again, but I'm not going to say when. It will end up being whenever I "feel" inspired to :) This gratification post was calling my name.
