February 24, 2013

8/52 Weeks of Gratitude


52 Weeks of More gratitude. More hope. More love.

Time for a little check in and reflection time on my gratitude practice. How is it affecting my days? I know it's really about the small, simple things we do day to day where we often feel the biggest changes. Firstly, I gotta say some days gratitude flows much easier than others,  a rainbow appears and instantly I see the beauty and feel grateful. Nature is like that. It's much much bigger than us, often gobsmackingly beautiful and brings such pure joy, calm and happiness.

But other days I just don't really feel it AT ALL. It doesn't feel like it's something that comes naturally to me and I have to remind myself to seek out something to be grateful for. A few times I've asked myself "Why am I not feeling it? Am I not doing it right? Am I not putting in enough effort? Do I just suck at gratitude?" Oh dear, we can see that's heading to no place good! So instead of continuing down that path I've pulled myself back,  taken a breath or two, laughed and thought hang on...why don't I just try to relax about the whole thing. Hah! Simple!

I've heard many times about the idea "fake it to you make it", and without realising it until writing it down today, I've put that idea into practice with gratitude. Even though I may not feel anything was that special on a particular day, I've still found things to feel grateful for, acknowledged the thoughts and written them down  in the hope that soon enough gratitude will start to be an everyday effortless way of being for me.

Was it fate this week that led me to with grace and eve's blog and to her posts on Gratitude (via linking up for 52 weeks of gratitude with maxabellaloves- sharing the love really does build a community).  I've been very inspired reading eve's posts on gratitude, and perhaps a teeny bit jealous of Elisa's ease in practising gratitude. Elisa's view on the world, and the way she translates that in words is beautiful.

I'm going to keep reading, practicing, writing, reflecting and trying new ways to see gratitude in my days. 

This week I continued starting the day with three things I was grateful for.  It wasn't until I was chatting with my massage therapist about managing work and my struggle to get up in the mornings, did I even think about being grateful for the long, restful sleep I had each night. And I probably still wouldn't of thought to feel grateful for sleep if Cassandra hadn't suggested it as a morning practice. Perfect, one of three grateful things ticked off my morning list. 

The rest of the week was long and dampened by a cold. 

By Friday I was listening to my body and was so so grateful for having a day off to do absolutely nothing. I lay in bed all morning. Read, napped. Ate homemade carrot and orange soup for lunch. Went  back to bed for an afternoon nap and rejoiced that I wasn't required to do anything or be anywhere. Life's little treats. I am truly grateful for having the opportunity to do this and for my soft, comfy pillow.  

Earlier in the week I made a gorgeous nectarine and raspberry crumble I had mentioned here. I had so much fun chopping the nectarines, taking time to notice their colours and textures. To me it looks like the inside of each nectarine has been kissed. So pretty. I felt grateful to have this abundance of nectarines and to share them with loved ones.

And books! How I love them. A big thanks to Graeme Simsion for writing The Rosie Project. A real delight.  As reviews are saying "it's the feel-good novel of 2013". I completely agree.  

What helps you to practice gratitude?

Linking up with Maxabella for 52 Weeks of Gratitude.

6 comments:

  1. Oh great post and love what you say. I agree some days the joy and richness is everywhere and I feel bad for the lack of joy, other days it seeps out of my pores. Such is life I guess, the ebb and flow, the inhale and exhale. All of that, but your lovely refreshing words I am grateful for, you write with honesty and wisdom and I love that. xxxxxx Hope you have a drier week..xx

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  2. I very much agree with what you have said Natalie. Some days are harder to find those moments of gratefulness but they are always there not matter how small. Each night I jot down something I am grateful for each day, making it part of my routine has helped to practice gratitude. I often try and remember to be more in the moment when I am doing things like you described when you were cutting the nectarines, there really is beauty in the little things it's just a matter of training yourself to see it. Wishing you a lovely week. x

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  3. Oh Natalie thank you for linking to me! Beautiful post. I love your gratefuls. And gratitude certainly didn't feel natural for me when I began practicing it. It felt awkward actually. But the more I kept at it {almost been a year} the easier and more natural and effortless it became xx

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  4. Beautiful nectarines - I would love to try that crumble
    I find that having to write it down actually helps with feeling the grateful - so I try and link with Bron as often as possible. Often it is simply a matter of creating a different frame for a thought - like your morning struggle/restful sleep example. We were taught to reframe our thoughts as a therapy tool for general practice but I think it helps with lots of ordinary negative thinking too.

    (and I simply adore Elisa's writing...I'm often left thinking on her posts for days)

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  5. Oh you are so wonderful and delightful, thank you for sharing and taking us on a journey into your inner workings, such beautiful wisdom, honesty and reflection. Things to be grateful for, for sure.

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  6. oh! please check this out! Lets be gratitude friends! So glad I found another like minded blogger! hopefully the URL will work! xxoo

    http://pomegranateandseeds.blogspot.com/2013/02/gratitude-monday.html

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thank you for sharing your thoughts. i love reading each and every comment x