3 Easy Tips For Increasing Your Gratitude

With the holidays here and Thanksgiving this week it’s only right to bring up the reason for the season: gratitude. Each year we have an opportunity to show how grateful we are for the people we love through food, gifts and spending quality time. But I think this “season” can be spiraled out into our every day lives if we make a commitment to fill up our gratitude cups every day. We have so much to be thankful for and with everything going on in the world right now, the best way to get spread positivity is to start with giving thanks.

Being in Korea right now during the Thanksgiving holiday is not fun. I’m just going to be blunt and put that out there. My family isn’t here and with a 15 hour time difference trying to FaceTime during Thanksgiving dinner won’t even be possible. At first I was in a slump about it, especially being on social media and hearing people share their Thanksgiving plans. Then I realized I needed to change up my mindset.

I realized that it’s our attitudes that can determine our outcomes. When we have a negative perspective then that’ll just breed more negativity. So I checked myself and realized I need to be grateful for what I have because no matter what because I’m alive, breathing, with food to eat, a place to live and people in the world that love me. So how can we make sure our gratitude cups are full in time for the holidays?

Here’s what I did below and what I’m practicing everyday to keep positive and learn to appreciate what I have:

1. Make a List of What You’re Thankful For

One of the easiest ways to reflect on some of the great things happening in your life is to write it down. When I’m having a rough day, I write down everything that I am thankful for whether it be big or small (for example: having clothes on my back, food to eat, a place to live, a job). I usually don’t limit myself but I try to keep the list focused on new things that may have happened in the day that I’m thankful for so I don’t get redundant. If you try this out just once you’ll see how quickly you’ll feel good about yourself and the world around you.

2. Positive Descriptive Praise

So I learned this one from teaching at KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) and at KIPP Houston one of the #1 things we learned at professional development was about giving positive descriptive praise to colleagues and students. The first time I experienced this was when my coworker pulled me aside and looked into my eyes saying “Charmaine, I need a moment of your time. I just want to tell you a few things I liked that you did today…” and it was as simple as that. I instantly felt good, not because I was being admired but because I was forced to reflect on the positive things I did that day. Since then I try every chance I get to give this type of praise to coworkers, students, friends or family and not only do I feel good but others are reminded of their value in my life.

3. Pay it Forward

Can you think of some ways that you’ve used the blessings in your life to help others? There are so many ways that we can literally give free gifts to others simply by blessing them with something we were blessed with. Okay, let me explain. On a grander scale, I can say teaching is my way of paying it forward in my community because I am imparting knowledge from my own education onto children (even here in Korea). Your way of “paying it forward” doesn’t haven’t to be so grand, it can be something small such as spending time with someone you care about who often makes time for you or sharing knowledge that you’ve learned on a particular topic (Pinterest!!).

As you can see, there are options. These are my top three because I practice them religiously and try to hold myself accountable to living for something greater than myself. Establishing our understanding of gratitude puts seasons like this into perspective. At the end of the day the holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and the like are just titles (and for many not as joyous), which is why it’s important to focus on the “reason” for this time of year which should be thankfulness. So let’s start filling up on gratitude!

Thank you so much for stopping by and if you haven’t already, please make sure to subscribe!