Redefining Gratitude

Gratitude is the practice of being thankful and showing appreciation. When I was struggling with depression, it was really hard for me to point out things that were going well in my life. My mindset was focused on the negative, and if I am being honest, I was in a victim mentality all the time.

Making Gratitude Work for You

Even as I started to get help from my life coach, I never practiced regular gratitude. It took me a while before I really understood the benefit of it. I also never resonated with the term gratitude. It always felt empty to me, so I changed it to celebrate. Keep whichever term feels best for you, or make up your own. Because when you are able to create a gratitude practice that works for you, your life can drastically change.

Why Gratitude Shifts Your Mindset

An important reason for a gratitude or celebration practice is because you are training your brain to look for the positive in life. When you are trying to transform your mindset this exercise is a great wake up call to your brain. This is an act of building consciousness and teaching your brain how to transform.

How to Start Your Practice

You can set this up however you like, but the main focus is daily writing out things that you want to celebrate or you feel thankful for. You can keep a special journal, or you can post them on post-it notes and place around your home. Like I said there are so many different ways. I like to do my practice in the morning when I am journaling what my day is going to be like. I created the Become Your Own Hype Girl specifically for this reason!

What to Include in Your Gratitude Practice

When picking what goes on your list, try to think of things that are helping you become the person you want to be or things that light you up. They can be simple things or they can be complicated. Sometimes I am even thankful for things that on the surface seem negative because they are learning opportunities.

Using Gratitude to Reframe Negative Thoughts

If you are not used to taking compliments or supporting yourself use your gratitude journal to build yourself up. What are you thankful for that you were able to do or accomplish? I also like to use my gratitude journal to speak about the things I don’t like in my life. An example would be my weight around my stomach. It is not my favorite thing about myself, but instead of weight being the only thing I think about when I think of the word stomach, I will start practicing gratitude for all the things my stomach does for me. This retrained my thinking and helped me view my stomach from a different perspective.

Make It a Daily Ritual

Continue to do this daily. I have made it a part of my morning routine. Figure out what works best for you, and then start celebrating!