What am I grateful for today? Imagine going out and buying a Piggy Bank for yourself. Imagine placing it where you easily see it when you go to bed and when you wake up. (You could even put a physical reminder there). You can look at this magical Piggy Bank as your ‘health boost savings account’ - the fuller your Piggy Bank is the richer you are. You make deposits by waking up in the morning and thinking of something you are grateful for, and when you go to bed at night thinking of something you are grateful for. You can even add to your ‘health boost’ during the day by taking time to pause and acknowledge something you're grateful for.
The catch is if you think of it and then quickly think of something else, the ‘gratitude’ will disappear like in a gust of wind. Instead, to get the physiological benefits you need to really take the time to feel gratitude and absorb it. You could do this by putting your hands gently over your heart centre and then breathing the gratitude into your heart for a few moments. If it helps you can visualize a colour, warmth or softness flowing into your heart and then imagining every cell absorbing the wonderful feeling. Really enjoy a couple of leisurely moments of breathing slowly, and drawing in the gratitude into your heart. End with a nice inner smile to yourself!
Tips
Ask yourself why do I have gratitude for this?
See if you can continually have different and new gratitudes.
Gratitudes can be as simple as appreciating your cup of tea
Interesting Tidbit about Gratitude
Studies have shown you can overdo it – gratitude can become a routine chore, so it is important not to put it into that category! Perhaps it works better for you only a couple of days a week. Experiment with it.