Gratitude List 2.0 Upgrade

For years on this blog, I've been talking about doing something that is so simple.  In fact, if you go back to 2009, you will see a blog post I wrote on "The Gratitude Jar".  At the time, I was using that extensively and it really helped me focus throughout my day on gratitude.  Generally speaking, if we are not looking and not aware of moments of gratitude, they will slip by our attention without even noticing them.

As time has shifted and changed for me, I sort of lost track of doing the gratitude jar or a gratitude list.  I thought I had come to the point where I was seeing it throughout my day.  While it would be safe to say that I was, there are times that I am still missing that which is around me.  As humans, it is very easy to miss the obvious, even if it is staring us in the eyes.

Now, I've started to do something different on gratitude.  Instead of just making a list at the end of my day of things I am grateful for, I am enhancing it.  You could say it is the Gratitude List 2.0 Upgrade and download.  However, it is what is currently speaking to my heart and I'm following the intention of it to more clearly focus my life.


The idea is that every night before I go to bed I have a notebook that I can write these down in.  This way I can go back and look at things from the past which are very eye opening in many ways.  I list three things in my gratitude list.  The first is something I am grateful for that happened during the day.  The second is something that brought me a moment of joy in my day.  The third is something that happened that I would like to discard and not carry with me into the night.

While some of these things can be very simple and seem small, keeping myself in this mindset helps me to focus on it throughout my day.  It keeps it fresh in my mind.  When I record it at night, it makes these things real.  In addition, whatever happened that I want to discard, I attempt to let go of it and release it so that I am not carrying it with me through the night when I am asking my body to rest.

The biggest benefits I see is that it helps me to stop and reflect upon my day in a positive way.  At the same time, it helps me recognize that there are moments that I need to let go of and so it honors that within me.  It helps me stay focused throughout the day so I will see things in a more positive light and hopefully not miss the little things that happen in my day.

Even in the worst of times in our life, there is always something to be grateful for that we often miss.  It is easy to focus on the doom and gloom, but fail to see the good stuff.  It is there and all we have to do is find it.  Once we find it, we will realize just how much more wonderful our life is and the more we realize this, the more we will lift ourselves up to greater heights.  

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Blog Post And Images (c) 11/21/12 by Don Shetterly

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