#344: Unlock Life-Changing Happiness: An Inspirational Guide to Living with Gratitude

So, kick back, relax, and let me introduce you to your host, Kevin Lowe.

Today, I'm going to share with you three simple practices to help you cultivate this sense of gratitude, even when life is a little bit crazy.

Now, I don't want you to bail on me after the third one, because I also have a bonus exercise that I believe could be a game changer.

Now, I know everybody says a game changer, and it's not really that big of a deal.

Well, you can be the judge of that. But what I'm saying is stay tuned till the end so you can hear my bonus little exercise to have you cultivating this sense of gratitude like you've never experienced before.

Now, before I get to the three exercises, I guess I first need to explain why is this even important?

And that is because I feel like gratitude, it's not just a feel-good practice.

It's honestly this key to unlocking a life of happiness, a life of joy, of fulfillment, a life full of gratitude.

It's a life with better relationships.

It's a life where you wake up better. It just makes everything a little bit easier when you can learn to appreciate the little things, when you can find gratitude even in the midst of the storm.

That is what today is all about, to give you that first step that you need to start making a little bit better life for yourself.

Gratitude exercise number one, we're going to call this the morning minute.

When you wake up in the morning Before you ever get out of bed Before you ever pick up your phone.

I want you to immediately stop, and I want you to list three things that you are grateful for.

This does not have to be complex. No, I literally just want you to think of the first three things right when you wake up that you're grateful for.

It could be as simple as the bed you're sleeping in. It could be as easy as the fan that kept you cool. Or maybe you immediately think of your family, of your children, your spouse, your job that you're looking forward to going to.

Whatever it is, I want you to think of three things right away.

Now, if you are religious like myself, you can turn this into a prayer.

It's what I do every morning.

It's right when I wake up, I immediately say a prayer, thanking God for the blessings that I have.

And I do just as I am explaining. Some days it's super simple.

It's the fact that I had a bed to sleep in. It's the fact that I have a home.

Other times it's things that I'm really excited about that day.

Things that have me getting up at it early in the morning, excited.

Maybe that's what's on the list that day. But whatever it is, I encourage you to start your day with this simple and easy practice, the morning minute. Take one minute right when you wake up and list out three things that you're grateful for.

And here's the reason why this is important. If you think of your day as a cup and throughout the day, all the stuff that enters your life fills up that cup.

Well, if we can go ahead and start filling your cup with gratitude, well, then it means that there's less room for all the negativity to enter.

So be sure that each and every morning you start to do this simple morning minute exercise.

Gratitude exercise number two, I want you to get outside.

It is so easy for us to find things to be grateful for when we are out in nature.

So what I'm going to encourage you to do is once a day, take a step outside.

Maybe go for a little walk A short little stroll Something that has you outside Outside of the home Now, for those of us who work from our home I get it, I'm one of you And I get that it is easy to not go outside at all Except for to maybe let the dog out, Other than that, we stay cooped up in our homes, working the day away.

But it is so vital for us to step outside, to put your feet in the grass, to breathe in some fresh air, to stare up at that beautiful, amazing sky, to get out in the morning and watch the sunrise, or be out in the evening to watch the sunset and to watch the stars start to fill the sky.

And when you're outside, I want you to begin to notice things that you're thankful for.

The things that catch your attention. It's the sound of the birds.

It's the gentle breeze blowing in the cool air signaling that it's fall.

It's the fluttering of the leaves against the wind.

It's the little things. These little things that you notice that you're grateful for, they all add up for an amazing experience.

And in terms of what we're doing today is it all helps you to, again, to fill that cup full of gratitude, of positivity, of the things that you look forward to, the things that you love.

Gratitude exercise at number three, it's at the end of the day.

So exercise number one was right when you wake up, the morning minute.

Then at some point in the day, you take a step outside.

You start to appreciate nature. You pay attention to the little things.

And now it's the end of the day. You're getting ready to get into bed.

Now, I want you to ask yourself, what was good about today?

I want you to list at least three things.

That's the bare minimum requirement. I want you to list out three things that were really great about today.

Now, it would be amazing if you had a journal with a notes app on your iPhone, something that you could jot this down so that you can go back and look at it maybe when days aren't so bright.

But I want you to come up with at least a bare minimum three things that made today amazing.

Now, you might be thinking, but it's just an ordinary day. I just did the same thing I do every day.

Yeah, but when you start to think about life in this terms of gratitude, What about the person on your way to work today that let you in?

You needed to switch lanes and traffic was a nightmare.

And they gave you that little wave letting you get in front of them.

That's one thing to write down.

Maybe it was you hurrying out for lunch and somebody held the door open for you. That's another thing.

Maybe it was you on your drive home today and it was right after a rain shower and you happened to catch a rainbow in the sky.

It's all these little things that we have to begin to train our brain, our mind to see the things that we're grateful for.

And of course, I told you there was a bonus because why not?

And that is something simple, something super easy, because I want you to start to say thank you a little bit more often.

What do I mean? What I mean is when you wake up in the morning and your husband, your wife, they make you a cup of coffee. Why don't you say thank you?

When you go to work today and somebody, I don't know, does something, they say something nice about your outfit today.

They hold the door open for you. Even the most minuscule, seemingly insignificant things, I want you to begin to say thank you.

This, my friend, is not only going to impact you, but it's going to impact the world around you.

It all goes back to the cup I talked about back at exercise one.

The more that you can fill your cup with the good stuff, fill your cup with gratitude, the less room there is for negativity.

Again, your bonus tip is for you to begin to say thank you.

Yes, I know that you are thinking, yeah, but they already know that I'm appreciative.

Yeah, maybe, but it helps for you to say it.

So the next time that somebody holds the door open for you, look them in the eye and say thank you.

And the next morning that your husband, your wife, They fix you a cup of coffee, something maybe unexpected.

Be sure to give them a hug and say thank you.

Okay, now that I've given you the tips, let's talk about implementation.

Because if we really want to have this be an impact on your life, it's not something that you can just do once.

No, you have to train yourself to start to see the good, to begin to see the things that you're thankful for in life.

So, what I'm going to encourage you to do, if this is harder than it should be for you, it's okay.

You just have to work at it. So, out of the four things that I've given you today, I encourage you to choose one of them.

One of them that you can commit to for the next week.

Whether it was the morning minute, whether it was taking a step outside, the end-of-the-day reflection on the three things that made today amazing, or maybe it was saying thank you a whole lot more often.

Choose one of them and commit to doing it for the next week, every single day.

After that week is over, try adding a second one.

Or maybe the one that you tried just didn't feel good for you.

That's all right. Ditch it and try another one.

You got four to choose from. Now, hopefully you adopt all four and that becomes part of your everyday life.

But if you're feeling like that's a little bit of an overkill, just choose as many work for you.

And that, my friend, is today's episode. Helping you to get to see life from a different view.

That's what I'm here to do on the podcast.

And listen, if I can ever be a help to you, if I can do anything for you, you don't ever hesitate to reach out.

My contact information is inside of the episode show notes.

It's also available on my website, gritgraceinspiration.com.

I'm the only one here behind the scenes. So if you reach out, it's going to be me who responds to you.

So with that, my friend, I know this week, if you're here in America, it's Thanksgiving.

That's why I thought we might as well kick things off with a little bit of gratitude to be thankful for the Thanksgiving holiday to come.

This is a Tuesday episode. I'll see you on Thursday.

Be sure if you've not already hit that follow button that you are following the podcast on your favorite app, whether that's Apple Podcasts, Spotify, you name it.

You can find grit, grace, and inspiration there.

Until our next episode, I guess I'll end with this. Thank you for being here.

Music.