What Are You Grateful For?

On a day like Thanksgiving, it's is widely understood by those who celebrate the holiday to take time and be thankful for the day.

Thankful for family, friends, good food, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and yes for many, thankful for the sporting events that make up the holiday festivities.

But what about the remainder of the year?

Is it as easy to recognize each morning how truly blessed you are to have opened your eyes and taken that first breath of the day?

Is it something that you actively choose to make a daily habit, not just a yearly holiday tradition? It is much harder to create a habit of something that you have not been taught since birth than to celebrate a holiday tradition that you have known for as long as you can remember. Not everyone is taught the power of daily gratefulness from an early age.

Why is gratefulness so important, and why should we recognize what we are grateful for each day? 

For many, we can far too easily get wrapped up in the busy and stressful balance of work and life to forget that just taking each breath is a blessing. The average number of breaths that a healthy adult takes per minute is about 12-20 breaths. This means that in just one minute, you have been blessed up to 20 times on average in just breaths alone. 

The next time your having a bad day, sit back for a minute to just breath, reflect, and remember that in just that minutes, you were filled with the blessing of breath about 12-20 times. If you slow down your breathing during that minute to calm yourself, you have still been blessed with multiple impactful breaths and can continue moving boldly throughout your day.

But don't stop there...

Build on that...

Knowing you have been blessed just to be alive and are grateful for each breath, what else are you grateful for? What are the things in your life that inspire you to continue even when times are tough? On good days and bad days, what are the things that push you to be the best version of yourself?

When I first started on my daily gratefulness journey, I suggested stating the things you are grateful for either when you wake up in the morning or before you lay your head to sleep at night.

Recently I have realized the importance of stating what I am grateful for when I first open my eyes in the morning, to provide a positive and uplifting start to my day.

You don't have to tell others what you are grateful for, but I encourage you to speak it out loud or write it down for at least yourself so you can speak the positive start of your day into existence. 

So each morning, before you start your day, ask yourself...

What Are You Grateful For?

Until Next Time...