On Being Thankful

As the year draws to a close, I've been thinking a lot about what 2018 looked like in my little corner of the world.  It was chock full of some really good things, some really bad things, and a lot of in between things, as years tend to do.

As far as my personal life goes, the best thing I started to do this year was a thankful list.  I got the idea after reading a blog post about how we can train our brains to focus on the positive things in life.

The theory behind the list, is that if you know that at the end of the day you're going to have to list 5 (or more) things that you were thankful for that day, you will eventually start LOOKING for little things to be thankful for.  So where typically you may have hit 3 green lights in a row on your morning commute and thought nothing of it, when your perspective is more one of gratitude, your brain notices those green lights and flags them as something good to add to your list at the end of the day.  I was intrigued by the concept and started to give it a go.

It is TRULY life changing.

And, the biggest reason I know it is life changing is that when I've had a bad day (or 4), I noticed that I stopped doing it.  And I could see a big difference in my perspective, and how I viewed my day.

Calling out the small things in life to be thankful for has completely shifted my thought processes.  I mean, if I'm going to let a few small bad things that happen to me ruin my day, why can't I do the same with the few, seemingly insignificant, good things that happen every day?

A small (and seemingly ridiculous, but go with me on this) example of this is tea.  If I hit the drive through for a tea, and it's cool (or at least not warm enough), I'm going to be a little annoyed.  But if I get to work, and my tea is still hot, I don't really think about it because tea is supposed to be hot.  But if I know that I need 5 little things to be thankful for, I'm going to be like, "Yes!  Hot tea!  This is awesome, and it's going on my list today!"

If you're thinking about 2019 goals/resolutions/intentions -- then this is a great one to start.  It so simple, but so impactful.  It is both doable, and completely life changing.

So grab yourself a small notebook, or open up the notes tab on your phone.  At the end of every day, write down 5 things you are thankful for.  Don't include the big things, like your family and friends -- just the little things from THAT day (like green lights or hot tea).  It can be surprisingly difficult the first few days, but that's kind of the point.  Train your brain to be happily surprised and thankful for those little things.

I promise you won't regret it.