Photo by Stephanie Patterson
This offering of 30 daily gratitude practice ideas from Gratefulness.org ranges from simple actions to reflective meditations to weeklong commitments – all designed to inspire and support your grateful living journey. Experiment with repeating one practice every day for a week, open yourself to the surprise of trying a new idea each day, and/or use this list of ideas as inspiration for developing your own. Gratefulness practice is unique and meant to be personalized.
Our hope is that these gratitude prompts and touchstones will help you discover new pathways towards gratefulness–cultivating presence, noticing and appreciating the gifts of life, enhancing perspective, and actively living a wholehearted, grateful life.
1. Tune in to your breath
Close your eyes. Take a few deep breaths. Notice how your breathing takes care of itself, moving itself through you, nourishing your whole body and keeping you alive. What does it feel like to become present to your breath? How might you commit to not taking this miracle for granted so much of the time?
For a guided experience, try this meditation: Cherishing the Breath: A Guided Practice.
2. Wake Up Grateful
Connect with the gifts of life through this simple practice from Wake Up Grateful: The Transformative Practice of Taking Nothing for Granted by Kristi Nelson. When you first wake up in the morning, notice three things you can be grateful for – even before getting out of bed. Kristi writes, “Think of things that you do not have to do anything to earn or receive from anyone else–things you are already receiving from life before doing anything. This is a powerful practice to greet each day and helps you to feel centered in the privilege and gifts of life.”
3. Transform obligation into opportunity
What would it take to see the considerations, commitments, and responsibilities in your life as your riches, blessings, and privileges? What can you do to remember your good fortune in having people and things to consider and tend as you move through your days? Try this Obligation to Opportunity practice and notice how it can help your perspective to shift in most any moment or activity.
4. Think of someone gratefully
Bring to mind someone for whom you are grateful. Savor this image or memory. Try to allow the image to be held in all the cells of your body, not just in your mind. Notice what happens in your emotions and body when you do this.
5. Take a gratitude walk
Enter the meditative space of a labyrinth, or walk a short path meditatively somewhere near you. You can try following a specific gratitude walk practice or invent your own. Bring awareness to — and celebrate — the gifts being offered to each of your senses.
Find the rest of the daily gratitude offerings here.
