How to Start a Gratitude Habit – Create. Educate. Motivate.

CREATE

Do you want more from your life?

More happiness? Better health? Deeper relationships? Increased productivity?

What if I told you that just one thing can help you in all of those areas?

AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

An attitude of gratitude means making it a habit to express thankfulness and appreciation in all parts of your life, on a regular basis, for both the big and small things alike.

If you’re like me, you wish this feeling could last all year long. Just imagine feeling proud, thankful, and joyful on an ongoing basis, not only during the holiday season like Thanksgiving. What if you could actually do something that changes your life now? You can. By cultivating a gratitude practice, you can make a profound difference in how you feel starting today.

Here is a list to help develop this mindset of an attitude of gratitude:

• Wake up every day and express to yourself what you are grateful for.
• Tell whoever you are with at the end of the day the 3 things you are most grateful for.
• Tell whoever you are with right now (significant other, friend, family member, etc.) the 3 things that you are most grateful for in this moment.
• Start a gratitude journal – Express gratitude in this journal every night by noting the things that you are grateful for, proud of, and excited about.
• Acknowledge yourself for what you have done and accomplished in the last day/week/month/year. Instead of comparing yourself to others, give yourself credit for the big and small things you have been doing!
• Acknowledge other people and thank them for inspiring/helping/supporting you – oftentimes people wait their whole lives to be acknowledged (and yet it happens far too infrequently)!

This is a mindset habit. Every day won’t be perfect, but focusing on what we are grateful for tends to wash away feelings of anger and negativity.

Every day is a gift; every breath is a gift. What we do with them is a choice.

Gabrielle

Live to Create.

 

 

EDUCATE

In this week’s upcoming infographic I’m discussing Mindful Eating (to be released on Sunday).  One of the tips I talk about in this piece is to take a moment to think, and be grateful, for where your food comes from.  

We tend to be pretty disconnected from our food source. In fact, if you ask many young children where their carrots comes from, they’ll respond with “The store!”  and then give you a slight roll of the eyes as they continue eating their mid-day snack. I dare you to try it! Another one to try is telling them that they are eating cow rather than steak. Once they put 2+2 together, they are sometimes shocked!

How often do you think about what you are about to eat? We often thank those who prepared the meal, which is a great step, but what about the farmers? Or the manufacturers? When you start to think about all of the people who are involved in getting your food to your table, it’s pretty hard not to feel connected to the bigger, collective whole of our planet. Take a moment to think of the people whose lives, and often the lives of their ancestors, have been dedicated to their land and farm. The very land that produced part of your meal. Then we need to mention their family’s lives, their wives and children, who often work the fields too. And what about the manufacturers? I know that I’m quick to judge them and their practices, but the truth is, they are an important part of our food chain. What about the government standards? Many people debate for years over how to make our food more healthy and available to us. It’s incredible once you start peeling back all of the layers involved in getting you the Zoodle dish you’re about to create for dinner.

Take a moment now to think about it. How does it make you feel? Do you feel more connected?  More grateful?

I encourage you to take a few minutes of silence this week before every meal to really contemplate the interconnections of what you’re about to eat. We are, in some way, all united by the land we live and farm on.

 

With great love and respect, I wish you a wonderful week.

Patricia, R.H.N

Eat.Real.Food

 

MOTIVATE

Body awareness is something I had to preach to my personal training clients day-in and day-out. Of course, me instructing them how to move a particular way was part of my job, however, there was no way for me to know how their body was feeling. I couldn’t know if there were any aches, pains, nagging joints or even if they couldn’t feel anything!

This is why I had to push them to become aware of their body and the feelings that come along with having it.

But let’s take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Body awareness is just one aspect of self-awareness. Knowing how your body feels when you perform a walking-lunge is one thing, but being able to feel and differentiate between levels of tiredness, stress or even excitement is a skill that can help you make healthier decisions.

For example, if you’re feeling hungry, your first instinct may be to reach for a snack. But what if you stopped and asked yourself a couple of questions first?

• “Do I feel a lack of energy right now? Will what I’m about to eat help me for longer than an hour?” – If the answer is no, you may want to opt for something a little lower in sugar or simple carbs.
• “Am I really feeling that hungry or will a glass of water stop me feeling like this?” – Sometimes it’s easy for us to feel hunger and automatically assume we need food. But you can curb the feeling your tummy is giving you by filling it with something lighter, healthier and calorie free.

Having asked yourself those questions, perhaps now you can better judge your next step!

Your body wants to tell you everything. It is constantly sending signals to you in one form or another – the only problem is, most of us aren’t in-tune with our body and so we ignore many of these messages.

We have to stop and really try to feel what our body is telling us. Let it speak to you and teach you what it needs.

Focus on identifying the feelings you’re picking up on, then try to understand why you might be feeling that way.

You won’t always know what you’re feeling or why you feel it, but the more you do this, the more often you’ll find yourself making the right decision – the healthier decision.

 

Have an amazing week!

To your success and happiness!

Alex

 

 

 

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