One Year of Gratitude — Day 51

Joshua Briley
Aug 23, 2017 · 2 min read
Photo by Kalen Emsley on Unsplash. Thank you, Kalen!

Yesterday was my 80th straight day of meditation. I have spent 18 hours during the last 80 days working on calming my mind. It seems like a lot when you look at the numbers. At times I feel like it is helping. Other times I am waiting to see the results of the time spent. I am still pretty new to this. Since I am not working with an experienced mentor, I am not sure what the results should be. I will try to share what I have noticed so far.

I find myself reading for longer periods of time. I have always read in short bursts. I would max out at around 20 minutes and then have to put the book down. Lately, I have been reading around an hour a day. Sometimes I will read a little more.

I am in my ninth week of maintaining a detailed daily journal. I have not missed a single day. I have three defined goals I work towards every day. One goal is relationship focused. One is health focused. The final is wealth concentrated. My health goal dipped a bit during vacation, but I am back on the trail again now that I am home. It is ok to gorge on boudin, donuts, crawfish and other yummy stuff once a year, right?

My wife mentioned that I was more collaborative with my daughter. That is great news. I have always been more of a disciplinarian than a collaborator with my kids. The goals with my life coach have focused on this. The positive results are likely a combination of the life coaching and meditation. Now, the goal is to extend this collaborative mindset out to other people. That is the next step.

Now I am on day 51 of 365 in my gratitude journal. Haven’t missed a day of this either. I will write about the benefits of the daily gratitude at some point. Like meditation, I cannot pinpoint the benefits, but I can feel something is happening.

Maybe one of the main advantages of meditation is the resulting ‘stick-to-it-ness.’ Maybe I am teaching myself to follow through on things. What about the daily gratitude? I am not sure. Wait… Hold the phone. I am having an epiphany as I write this! Six months ago, I would have been looking for reasons why the meditation and gratitude were not working. Today, I am looking for reasons why they are. That is a giant step. For that, I am thankful.

And that is your gratitude for today.

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