Extend Your Gratitude: Turn Your Gratitude Into a List

 

A gratitude wall is an everyday family activity which helps everybody reflect on what they're grateful for each day. It's a shared space at home where everybody takes time to think about the good things they're grateful for and then look at them in visual terms. If you've ever tried this process, you'll know what I mean by how amazed your eyes get!

What I've found is the more you do it, the more grateful you become. Initially it may feel as if the more you focus on your gratitude, the more it seems to pour out. But once you start to see that good things happen, even when you don't feel like it, you'll find that gratitude becomes a habit. You start to look at your appreciation or lack of appreciation differently.

To start with, have a list of some things you're grateful for each day. Start with something small like the time you met somebody new. Then start with bigger things: the things you're grateful for each week, month, year, etc. If you only have a short list at first, it doesn't matter how long it is. When you start to put a longer term goal for yourself, it will inspire you to get more done, thus, more grateful.

Try using visualization to describe something you're grateful for, or a feeling you have whenever you notice that you are. For example, you can visualize your husband walking through the front door after you have been gone for five years. Or, you can simply describe something that's going wrong in your life and imagine that it is changing. These are simple conversation starters, which will help you to be more grateful.

Next, think about how you can expand your gratitude. You can make a gratitude wall, which can be seen everywhere in your house, and it looks like a tree trunk with lots of little leaves on it. You can hang a photo of yourself, or another happy memory, on the wall to surround it. You can also hang up a picture of your family, or your favorite place.

You can also use a gratitude journal to keep track of what's going on in your head and heart each day. You don't need one to describe something that's happening outside. Just write in it when you feel grateful, and then take a look at it in a few days. Are there any signs that you might be feeling more grateful than usual? If so, write those feelings down too. You can also list any goals that you want to reach or accomplish.

Finally, send out a gratitude card or note each week. These can be purchased online, or at your local dollar store. You can buy a paper cut-out of someone you admire and then write their name on the back. You can also print out a photo that shows you doing something nice - like taking a class, or helping someone with something that they need. Whatever you do, be sure to send these cards out on a daily basis, and wear them on your shirt as you walk around.

Here's a real life example: last week I put up a Gratitude Wall in my office, and every time I was grateful, I wrote it down on the paper-cut-out. When I was not thankful, I put it away in a drawer. Before I realized it, I had many cards on my Gratitude Wall! That's the power of feeling grateful - not only for what you have but also for what other people have. And if you do it enough, other people will be reminded of you and offer you their own gratitude too.