Get Your Gratitude On!

Several months ago I was telling a friend about something difficult going on in my life and how I felt sapped of joy and happiness, and she made some comment about how being (genuinely) grateful can really help people find joy again.

I maturely responded with an internal, “Ugh.”

I keep hearing how important and powerful gratitude is, but does anyone else have a hard time believing it?

Plus, I haaate cliche phrases (ie: “Have an attitude of gratitude!”). Most people offer cliche phrases when they don’t know what else to say, and I understand their intention, but platitudes don’t really help anyone. And especially not me. 

But my friend’s comment was just an echo of what I kept hearing and reading about the power of gratitude.

I’ve read about Ann Voskamp’s challenge/commitment to write down 3 things she’s grateful for every single day and how life-changing that’s been for her. It sounds lovely in theory – and I almost like the idea of doing it. But it almost seems too simple to be true, you know? 

I’ve read Glennon Doyle’s blog post Give Me Gratitude or Give Me Debt and how her ‘perspectacles’ (aka her lens of gratitude) changed everything for her (highly recommend reading her post – it’s SO good). She ends her post with these life-giving words:

Today I shall keep my perspectacles super-glued to my face and feel insanely GRATEFUL instead of LACKING and I will look at my home and my people and my body and say: THANK YOU. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THIS IS ALL MORE THAN GOOD ENOUGH, ALL OF IT. Now. Let us turn our focus onward and outward.  There is WORK TO BE DONE and JOY TO BE HAD.

Gratitude Perspectacles

And then….

Alison from The Alison Show shared a podcast on how a gratitude practice has changed her life, and having followed Alison for a few years now, I greatly respect her work and her words. She’s goofy, a bit over the top, ever-so-slightly inappropriate (in the best way) and hilarious. She likes to joke but she takes her work very seriously and you can tell by the way it’s exponentially grown in the past year or so. She’s a total boss babe, and I have learned a lot from her.

So when she shared that she had a podcast on gratitude that everyone needs to listen to, I believed her. It took me a few weeks to get around to it, but I got to her Episode 23: WHAT IS a gratitude practice?! And how can it change your life?! We’ll tell you! and I was like, “Whoa… okay, I get it. I get what everyone’s been saying about the power of gratitude. Now how do I implement a gratitude practice??” And that’s when Alison was like, “I’ve got you covered! Listen to Episode 24: I’M FREAKING GRATEFUL: A gratitude practice to help you love your life!” And so I did.

And, you guys, it has rocked my world! I can only begin to put into words how it’s turned some things around in my life.

Since I started doing her gratitude practice on a semi-regular basis, I have noticed a shift in different areas in my life. Doors are opening up to me, money is being offered to me, and I’m doing more of what I love on a regular basis – it truly blows my mind! And I give a lot of credit to Alison’s podcasts (in addition to You Are A Badass At Making Money by Jen Sincero, but that’s for another blog post:).

Eventually I’ll write a blog post or do a vlog on all the big and beautiful things that are happening in my life, but for now, do yourself a favor and play those two podcasts STAT. I know life is crazy busy and there’s hardly enough time to brush your teeth, but I’m telling you, find the time… whether it’s  on your drive to work or spending some alone time in the bathroom, click on the link above and start listening. It’s totally worth it!