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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut, it\u2019s a gorgeous sunny day and I did get my linen closet organized so I\u2019m calling today a win!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the things that I\u2019ve learned over the years is to be kind to myself. Did I accomplish as much as I wish I had today? Nope! But what would I say to a friend who was lamenting their lack of productivity?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Would I say, \u201cYou loser! What\u2019s wrong with you? You just need to be more focused and try harder? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n No, I wouldn\u2019t. If I did, I wouldn\u2019t be a very good friend and I probably wouldn\u2019t have many friends. Instead, I\u2019d probably say, \u201cOh that tough! I know what it feels like to not get done what you were hoping for. But look, you did get \u201cthis\u201d done and that\u2019s amazing. There\u2019s always tomorrow to try again. You\u2019ve got this.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n If we wouldn\u2019t talk to a friend with scorn and contempt, why do we do it to ourselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve found that practising looking for the things that I can be thankful for has impacted so many areas of my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In today\u2019s example, I didn\u2019t get done what I wanted; but my brain sees the gorgeous sunshine and the fact that I did tidy the linen closet and those things are AMAZING.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve had days where I\u2019m just grateful that I\u2019m alive and that my kids had enough cereal to get them through serving themselves breakfast, lunch and dinner. I\u2019ve had days where I was just thankful that my bed was comfy and I had a window to look out of. I\u2019ve had some really bad days where I had to set the bar of what I was grateful for pretty freakin\u2019 low; and that\u2019s okay. There will be those days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But you know what, just as certain as winter turn to spring which then turns into summer and then fall; the seasons of your life will change, too. I\u2019ve experienced some of longest, darkest winter seasons where I couldn\u2019t possibly fathom a change to anything even resembling the growth of spring. But it happened. Every time. Without fail. And I\u2019ve learned to trust that. I\u2019ve learned to trust that Season\u2019s change<\/strong> and sometimes what I need to do is to hunker down and just hold on because even if I don\u2019t see it or feel it, it\u2019s gonna happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the mean time, I look for things to be grateful for. I look for the beautiful things. I look for the things that make me smile. I look for the things that will bring my soul, even the minutest glimmer of hope; something to help me get from this moment to the next and the next and the next because I know that Spring is coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It wasn\u2019t until 2019 that I decided to go all in and actually DO A THING. At the end of February 2019, I decided to do a month of Gratitude and post every day on Instagram with something that I saw or noticed, in my day, that I could be thankful for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I had already been irregularly practising gratitude for over a decade BUT the change in me from the beginning of the month the end of the month was powerful. It was easy to see the good. It became natural to look for things that I could be thankful for. Putting the idea into a daily practise meant that it became a habit. A regular behaviour that gets done almost subconsciously. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So now, I\u2019m always looking for things that will brighten my day. If I\u2019m struggling with something, I\u2019ll acknowledge the challenge to be honest with myself AND find something to be thankful for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not about Toxic Positivity. I looked that phrase up and the definition is dysfunctional emotional management without the full acknowledgment of negative emotions, particularly anger and sadness.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s not at all what I\u2019m encouraging because life can be really freaking hard. I know. I really know.<\/strong> Life has been challenging enough for me that I needed \u201csomething\u201d to help me not only survive when I\u2019m in the middle of a challenging time but to help me carry on and even thrive, in spite of the garbage that I\u2019ve been going through. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Practising gratitude has been that thing for me and I believe in it enough to say that it could be life changing for you, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So practically, how can you do it? How can you start to live a life where you practise gratitude and see the benefits at play in your life? I\u2019m gonna talk about that in the next post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you feel like it, I\u2019d love to hear ONE thing from your day that you are grateful for. I\u2019ll go first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m thankful for my dishwasher. It\u2019s full and running and I don\u2019t have to wash all the dishes by hand and my empty sinks make me feel happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or\u2026..I\u2019m thankful for cold drinks on hot days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or\u2026..I\u2019m thankful for the wind that\u2019s blowing my wind chimes and making them chime so pretty in my backyard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or\u2026clean clothes. Really thankful for clean clothes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What are you thankful for!?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I feel like I\u2019m finally getting back into the swing of things here at home. A month out of routine is long enough to really throw you for a loop and I think. In some ways, I\u2019ve been trying to \u201cget back\u201d to where I was. But I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s truly the goal. … Continue reading “Why the Focus on Gratitude (Part 4)”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[33,81,5,16,63,41],"tags":[203,200,87,204,183,182,86,88,201,137,150],"class_list":["post-9161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deep-thoughts","category-gratitude-challenge","category-life","category-me","category-mental-health","category-thankfulness","tag-anxiety","tag-beauty","tag-choose-joy","tag-gratitude","tag-happiness","tag-mental-health","tag-practise-gratitude","tag-rewire-your-brain","tag-see-the-good","tag-sun","tag-thankfulness"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9161"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9161\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/img_5583.jpg?resize=840%2C961&ssl=1\")
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