World gratitude day is fast approaching – Tuesday 21 September 2021! In preparation for gratitude day, I’m thinking about all the things I currently do to celebrate life wins.
I have a daily gratitude journal and I try to spend some time each day reflecting on what I’m grateful for. Admittedly, it can be difficult to do when other things on the to-do list get in the way.
However, now more than ever, I understand the benefits of taking time to reflect.
Doing something I love and living my purpose through this blog recently, has helped me tremendously. It would be great to turn my passion into a full-time job. Let’s see what the future holds for me. In the meantime, it’s time to put the foundations in place and gradually build upon them.
Given my mental health struggles over the last few years, which you can read more about in this blog post, I’m planning to use this official day of the year, to not only practice gratitude but to put measures in place to actively process my emotions and learn from my negative experiences. Life throws negative experiences at us each day. The news from around the world can impact us and the pandemic hasn’t helped maintain a good standard of mental health.
When life becomes difficult, it’s about managing your reaction to the current circumstances. And also remembering this moment will pass and happier times will come.
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As well as preparation for gratitude day, I’m on a mission to fill up my mental health toolkit with a range of options to cope with the bad days.
I also plan to adjust my work schedule when applying for a future job role, to ease the pressure of juggling family life and working full time. It’s time to accept this needs to happen.
Doing something I love and living my purpose through this blog recently, has helped me tremendously. It would be great to turn my passion into a full-time job. You can read more about why I started blogging here. Let’s see what the future holds for me.
For progress to be made, I have to learn how to process my emotions correctly, as and when they come up. Even if it’s later that day, it’s good practice to start the next day afresh, without carrying baggage from the previous day.
In the meantime, it’s time to put the foundations in place and gradually build upon them.
Gratitude day has come at the perfect time and is a great place to begin the final stages of my recovery. Pass me the building blocks…
My strategy
The foundation for a happier and more fulfilling life surely has to start with a mindset adjustment. These are the points I want to cover:
- How I think and what impact this has on me
- Owning my thoughts, realising I create and control them
- Practising mindfulness
For me, these three things must be the basis for real change.
For progress to be made, I have to learn how to process my emotions correctly, as and when they come up. Even if it’s later that day, it’s good practice to start the next day afresh, without carrying baggage from the previous day. These are some of the other self-care tools I used to recover from my breakdown.
In preparation for gratitude day, I’m starting to think about what I’m grateful for and these are the questions I’ve been asking myself over the last few weeks.
Looking back at yesterday, what was a positive? List all of the ones you can think of.
What progress have I made today? List all achievements.
What am I thankful for today?
What can I learn from my negative experiences?
What negative emotions did I feel yesterday?
How can I prevent these negative emotions tomorrow?
If I am in a negative mood, how could my situation be worse? Look on the bright side.
What tools can I add to my mental health toolkit today?
Why I’m choosing mindfulness
In the past when I’ve heard the term mindfulness: beware of your thoughts, you are what you think, etc I’ve never really understood what it meant. Until you’ve lived through an experience where you literally had no choice but to put these tools in place, I think it can feel a bit like an airy-fairy term a self-help guru would use. But it works…
Over the years I’ve used these practices to help with my anxiety levels, but I’ve never put a toolkit in place and used it consistently, even when I am well. As part of my self-care routine moving forward, this will be a daily routine for me. I now have to put measures in place to avoid getting to such a low point mentally in the future.
This article explains more about mindfulness. Healthline also has some great tips & tricks to try if you’re suffering from anxiety. Headscape is a great app if you are looking to improve your meditation or mindfulness skills.
Some quotes to give us the inspiration to be more mindful and take time to reflect on what we are grateful for…
To celebrate gratitude day, why not send a personalised gift, a thank you or a special card in the post…
Or a special gift, to show someone how much you value them…
You can read all of my blog posts here…
How are you preparing for gratitude day?
Do you have a plan in place to set aside time to think about what you’re grateful for?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Thank you for reading my post today – I hope it has helped you 🙂
I’ve never heard of gratitude day but I love the sound of it and what it’s about. It’s so nice you’re filling up your toolkit and I love these quotes you’ve shared.
Author
Thank you. It’s a great practice and intend to make time to do it daily. Even if only for 5 minutes.
Ive never heard of gratitude day! It sounds like a really useful day and I love the 8 questions!
Corinne x
Author
Happy you like the questions. It’s good to reflect and take a moment to reassess.
xx
I love this so much! I never knew there was gratitude day. I love gratitude so much and I try to practice it as often as possible. I love gratitude so much. It can really change how we view life.Thank you so much for sharing x
Author
It can really change your view and it opens your mind up to the positive aspects of life.
Oh what a shame I didn’t realise it was gratitude day and I’m a great fan of gratitude and appreciation. I always try to incorporate some gratitude time into my day, usually for me it’s first thing in the morning whilst looking out of my kitchen window. Although I must admit there have been days where I have forgotten to do it as I’ve been so busy but as soon as I remember I like to take a few minutes to get it done and it has a soothing feeling and really does motivate me for the rest of the day.
Author
This sounds like a lovely exercise to do in order to feel grateful. I’ve had more time to do these things lately, but the real challenge for me will be when I return to work.
We have to keep making time though – even though some days it’s difficult!
I didn’t know about world gratitude day!
Being grateful does wonders for our mental health. It helps us have a good attitude, and approach life with a positive mindset. Thanks for this post!
Author
It’s so good for mental health and I need to do it daily from now on.
I think it’s all about mindset – you can’t change external factors, but you can change how you respond to events or circumstances in life.
Great Post. I let you think of one self selfreflection. Thank you for your story.
Author
Thank you for your comment. I am glad you liked the post 🙂
OH, I had no idea that there was a gratitude day! I express gratitude every day because I am always in awe of how life is and how grateful I am! These are great questions to answer in a journal! Thanks for sharing x
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com
Author
It’s great to hear you are grateful for the things in life.
I am, but my anxiety brain usually takes over and therefore I don’t consciously think about the positive aspects. I am trying to make it go away, by prioritizing positive thoughts and you give me hope I will get there xx
Love this! I didn’t even know gratitude day was a thing but I’ll definitely be asking myself some of these tomorrow. I really love the one about learning from negative experiences in particular! Thanks for sharing x
Author
Glad you liked the post. It’s good to talk to ourselves in a constructive & kind way and I think these questions feed into this. I am very self-critical by nature and I need to stop this!
I really like how intentionally reflective you are and this has inspired me to do the same (I had no idea there is a gratitude day)! I struggle with anxiety and my intrusive thoughts have been really bad so I’ve been working on challenging them and replacing them with positive affirmations that have elements focused on gratitude. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Absolutely lovely post. Very informative. It’s hard to be introspective sometimes and turn it into positivity
Author
Glad you liked the post.
It’s so difficult for me, as positivity is not my natural default setting, but I am working hard to change this 🙂
Author
Hi Molly, I am so happy this post inspired you. I am sorry to hear about your struggles. It’s difficult sometimes, isn’t it?
Positive affirmations do work and I am determined to set aside some time each day to say them out loud!
I never knew there was a world gratitude day, that’s great! I love all these gratitude quotes you’ve shared – thank you ????
Author
I don’t know if a lot of people know about the day, but it was a great time to discuss this tool for helping with mental health struggles.
Glad you liked the quotes. I enjoyed making them.
i love your lsit of questions for building gratitude and reframing your thinking. I did notice an opportunity for jsut a little more joy that i’d like to share. You suggest learning from negative experiences, but then tryign to prevent negative emotions. Why not look for lessons like “I felt this, and I survived it anyway” in those negative emotions, too? Instead of trying to avoid the inevitable, why not make them work for you?
Author
Thank you for your comment. This is such a great point, to look at the negative emotions as lessons and use them to my advantage. You are correct in saying they will come anyway and it’s about managing them.
This is helpful to me, as I need to be eqquipped moving forward.
xx
I enjoyed this post a lot. Thanks for sharing. “… start the next day afresh, without carrying baggage from the previous day” Truth! xx
Author
Glad you enjoyed the post.
It’s sometimes difficult to do, but this small mindset change means you leave the negative events of the previous day behind. What’s the point in carrying them with you?
I believe having a gratitude day is interesting. Good thing you surpassed already your metal struggles before. I 🙂 Glad you made it. I suffered also 10 years ago with anxiety attacks but I am here so grateful to be back again with a much better life. 🙂
Author
I am sorry to hear you previously suffered. But I am glad things have improved for you.
I am getting there slowly and being grateful helps the process.