Being Grateful: 3 Reminders On How to Keep It Up

Thanksgiving reminds us about being grateful. And when we are sitting around the holiday table, it might be easy to come up with a few big things we’re grateful for, like “the food we eat,” or, “this family/group of people.” But we’re all better off when we can keep a mindset of gratitude all throughout the year. Here are a few quick reminders about how we can keep the spirit of gratitude with us. And, goodness knows, these reminders are as much for me as for anyone. I’d like to say I am always able to maintain a grateful heart, but I fail constantly. Maybe awareness is half the battle.

Start small. 

It’s like the character Bob says in the wonderful Bill Murray movie, What About Bob: “Baby Steps.” We can baby-step our gratitude. This method could be taking five minutes a day to jot down a list of whatever comes to mind. Or it may be thinking of the literal “small stuff” that we can be grateful for, such as AA batteries, ziplock baggies, double-sided Scotch tape, warm towels right out of the dryer… you get the gist. By thinking of such everyday items or occurrences with gratitude, we become more aware of even the seemingly insignificant “small stuff” for which we can be grateful.

Change Your Attitude with Gratitude.

It took us longer than we thought it would to have our second child. When he finally arrived a couple of years later, I had a different mindset than I did with my first. This time, I looked at every late-night feeding as a gift. Don’t get me wrong: I loved and cherished my first son and my alone-time with him. But the second time around, especially because it was not a given that we could have a second child, I told myself I wouldn’t complain about any of the sleep interruptions. And because of that, it all took on a different feel. Hayes and I enjoyed our middle of the night bottle feeding time together. I didn’t take it for granted.

Back to changing one’s attitude with gratitude, there is perhaps no better cinematic example of this idea than Jimmy Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life. At the end of the movie, his circumstances haven’t changed, but his attitude certainly has. And why is that? Because he’s grateful, truly grateful, for the people and relationships in his life. When he is overcome by his profound riches in these relationships, he can’t wait to run home and be with his loved ones. 

Look at the flip side or look for the branches.

One way to think about gratitude is like that old saying, “it could always be worse.” Sometimes in a situation, we can think about the flip side of it and how that could be a lot worse, so we’re happy to deal with the smaller problem we actually have. Another way to be grateful for something is to think about what possible good things have happened because of it. These people or things are the “branches” or “offshoots” of your original situation. Maybe you ran into an old acquaintance at the car mechanic after your fender-bender, and you otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to reconnect. 

What are your tips and tricks for keeping a grateful spirit? I’d love to hear them!

And back to the list of small things to be grateful for, here are some stream-of-consciousness ideas: Amy Poehler and reruns of Parks and Recreation, changing into pajamas at the end of the day, a box of 4,000 earring backs I bought on Amazon for $5 so I never have to worry if I lose the back of an earring again, lip balm, hot coffee or tea first thing in the morning, notebook paper, cheap sunglasses, a favorite song on the radio…

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To read my last post, click here: How to be an Epic Girl: Stacia Freeman’s Crusade

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