I’ve been practising almost daily gratitude journaling for eight years now, and I’m fascinated to know how it works, because I’ve noticed that it really does!
I guess it’s about clarity of focus – and “what you focus on grows” as Tony Robbins always reminds me. You know how when you are thinking about replacing your car, coat or shoes, you decide on one brand, style or colour and then you see them everywhere? That’s your reticular activating system kicking in. It’s a great brain function designed to direct us to what’s important in a distracting world, and we actually get to choose how it works by feeding it the stuff we want to focus on.
And here’s the thing we aren’t taught in school. We get to choose what’s most important to us, to filter out the clutter of modern day living and to (importantly) feel good in a fuzzy warm way about all the ways we are able to live with ease and comfort.
I find beauty in appreciating the small but significant things I can easily take for granted. From having a safe warm home to being able to walk in the woods to being able to buy food. You name a basic human right, it’s on my gratitude list. Because most people in the world have less, and remembering the order of things is a great start to any day.
Before you right it off as ‘just another BS wellness idea’, try it for yourself for 90 days and watch the way your life changes. It’s a subtle but noteworthy shift.
Clare Honeyfield is a high-performance coach and yoga teacher working with change makers, creators and rule breakers for a better world. Clare is the founder of Stroud Farmers’ Market and The Made in Stroud Shop and author of ‘Artisan Stroud’.
