Hello lovely,
I can't believe we are a week into 2016 already!
I'm excited about this year and even more fired up about my coaching business but also committed to creating a work-life balance that feeds my body, mind and soul. Who else is with me on that one!?
My last post about the power of Vision Boards, here, has been one of my most popular: not just on social media but with many of you sending me personal messages and pictures of your own boards. Thank you – I love seeing them!
And I love sharing things that have helped me in my own life and today is no different.
This technique could literally change your life! It has been scientifically proven to increase happiness by 25%!! Who wouldn’t jump at that?
I'm taking about GRATITUDE.
According to studies, having an attitude of gratitude:
- Improves physical health
- Improves psychological health
- Enhances empathy and reduces aggression
- Improves sleep
- Improves self-esteem
Many years ago, I was struggling with my physical health and that in turn affected my emotional health. I remember reading about a guy who was suffering from depression and, after hearing about the positive affect of feeling grateful, set himself a challenge. He challenged himself to write out FIFTY things he was grateful for every single day. At the beginning it took him all day to come up with his 50. He included everything from running water and food on the table to generous acts of kindness from friends.
After one month his depression had lifted and he was a completely different person. To say that grabbed my attention is an understatement.
So I set myself a similar challenge: to write 30 things every day. Do you know what? He was right – my outlook on life changed completely. I felt differently about everything: friends, work, the world in general, my illness and myself.
Finding and focusing on things we can be thankful for is incredibly powerful and the reason I ask every single client of mine to keep a Gratitude Diary.
It's too easy to focus on the things that have gone wrong or things that aren't 'enough'. But as the inspiring quote by Melody Beattie states:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.”
Today I'd like to share a fun way for you to practise an attitude of gratitude.
It's in the form of a GRATITUDE JAR.
I forget when I first heard the idea of this but having seen a post from Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) about her Happiness Jar, which is very similar, it has inspired me to do one again. Plus...any excuse to buy a new Kilner jar (wink).
Here’s my Gratitude Jar sitting on the corner of my desk.
No, you don’t have to come up with 30-50 things a day. If you’d like to set yourself that challenge I recommend you get a notebook otherwise you’ll be filling your shelves with jars!!
HOW TO CREATE YOUR OWN GRATITUDE JAR
You need:
- A large jar (or box)
- Slips of paper (I'm keeping a pack of post-it notes next to the jar and cutting the sticky part off)
- 60 seconds each night
What to do:
- Each night write at least one thing you were grateful for that day.
- Every few months, take out all the slips of paper and read them. This can’t help but put a smile on y our face.
You'll love it, I promise. It's wonderful to see the jar filling up. Why not get your family doing one too?
Who else is going to try this in 2016? If so, I’d love to see your photos.
See you in the Kilner aisle ;-)
Emma xx
P.S. I’ve put a fun twist on this for one of the activities in Module 1 of my 'Love Your Body' online course. It's coming out in the next couple of weeks, so watch this space!