A Gratitude Challenge

I just arrived home from my morning walk. I usually have company when I walk, but today I was alone. For the last couple of months, whenever I knew I had to walk alone I would decide to stay home and work out with Denise Austin, thanks to the marvelous YouTube and the benefits of the internet. If you don't know her, go take a look. I have been following her career for over 25 years.

Today I went for the walk with my headphones and my smartphone. I was listening to Oprah and she reminded me again about the importance of being grateful, but more than that, to actively think about the things that you are grateful for.

I have listened to tons of audios about this theme; from Louise Hay, Elizabeth Gilbert, Oprah, and may more writers, speakers, and motivators. I had a huge desire to be naturally grateful; I even prayed about it.

I learned from some experts that if you commit yourself to anything for 30 days it becomes a habit. The thing is that I am very bad at doing the same thing for a long time in a steady way because I get bored repeating anything. It doesn't matter if I write it down, I won't read it. I also learned about the effect the subconscious can make in your life. I didn't have a plan to work on that but whenever I was alone I listened to uplifting audios and many of them were related to gratefulness. So, I think my subconscious got the message and I started to notice that my gratitude behavior improved.

Still, I wanted to make something better than that, like Elizabeth Gilbert. She has something like a box of gratitude where she writes what she is grateful for in the day and puts it in the box. I tried and failed. Many people recommend writing a list of things you are grateful for before going to bed; I tried and failed.

I even wrote the word GRATEFUL on the bulletin board located in front of my desk and I don't read it. I actually just saw the word on the bulletin board today because I raised my head to look for words ( I do that when I write). That made me laugh. OMG! Really, I write the word on purpose but don't look at it? Worst than that, when I raised my head I also saw my VISION BOARD, which I haven't looked at for a while. Again, OMG!!

But here is what I thought today while walking and listening to Oprah reminding me again of the importance of writing it down. She advises writing 5 things that happened during the day that you are grateful for. I want to address that I am not an ungrateful human being, it is just that I forget to do it when I have many things going that are really difficult. But I have learned the lesson - I just need to practice it every day. Maybe for 30 days?

Recently I told a friend that I have prayed for a long time for three non-material things I wanted to flow naturally in my life and one of those is gratitude. I am happy to tell you that the prayers and the audios (working with my subconscious) have worked.

I find myself been grateful whenever I have food on my plate at home, but it looks like a restaurant plate. Whenever I drive my 2018 car, I give thanks because one week before Hurricane Maria, I learned my car was a total loss. After an accident in July (not my fault), the money from the insurance came just a few days before the hurricane.

In October, after the hurricane, I moved to Pennsylvania to try to keep on working and figure out how to deal with the loss of the income from stores that were closed because of the hurricane. Some, even The Linen House, who was selling my pillow covers with much success and operating for 35 years, closed forever.

That year was a very difficult one for all the damage caused by the hurricane, for all the people who died, for the lack of adequate services, and because many people moved out of the island. Things were far from normal. I came back in mid-January ready to work hard and find a balance again. But here is the thing, I have learned to be grateful anyway!

The Gratitude Journal

I am an artist, a visual artist, and many times when I see something my brain translates it to art. I am a visual person. I make a list for the grocery store, but I don't read it when I am buying things. A long time ago I thought I was just forgetting to take a look at the list, but I still remembered to buy everything. What I learned about me is that as an artist, I just take a picture of the list in my brain.

A few months ago I designed a few digital papers for my new Etsy store where I sell printable products for instant download, but I haven't listed them yet. Here is what I thought this morning while listening to Oprah. I visualized those papers with lines and numbers from 1-5, as she said, with a title like this: 5 Things to be Grateful TODAY, The Gratitude Journal.

I am an artist, so writing them on a blank paper is not my thing. Here is what I did:

My 5 things to be grateful for today are:

1. I finally listed the papers in the shop.

2. The day is beautiful!

3. I can walk on the patio and enjoy a beautiful view.

4. I am alive and healthy.

5. I have 3 sons and 4 grandchildren to Love!!

There are many things to be grateful for, but I wanted to focus on the simple things in life. Having someone to love is a blessing including been alive to love yourself.

What are you grateful for today?

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A gift for you! Print out the gratitude journal sheets I mentioned above! Download them here for free.