365 Gratitudes: Happiness is Always Now

On January 1st 2009 I made my first entry in a journal called 365 Gratitudes. One of my new year’s resolutions to myself was to make a daily entry of “one-gratitude-per-day” for a calendar year. Why? Because I wanted to experience the power of gratitude and how it might affect my life, my relationships, and my ideas about happiness, success, and abundance. Just now, with a few hours to go before mid-night on December 31st, I made my final entry for the year.

365 Gratitudes, as I like to call it, has been a challenging and enlightening experiment. The challenging bit was maintaining the discipline of setting aside 10 minutes a day to record my daily entry. Finding 10 minutes out of every 1440 minutes sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? I did okay for the most part, but sometimes I would slip, and suddenly I was having to think back over four or five days. What happened? Where had I been? How could I not find 10 minutes to stop and be grateful?!

I have engaged in many gratitude-related exercises over the years, and enjoyed them all for the most part, but none have been as confronting and beneficial as this one. I would recommend wholeheartedly that you try this experiment for yourself. 365 Gratitudes has given me a deeper appreciation for the power of gratitude. I have learned that gratitude is much more than just a positive attitude or a nice idea; it is a spiritual practice that can transform your perception of who you are and how you experience the world. Gratitude teaches you how to live.

Here are ten lessons I’ve learned about the power of gratitude having done my 365 Gratitudes.

Gratitude is a spiritual compass: Practising gratitude daily helps you to stay on course with your life-journey and with the essence of who you are.

Gratitude is a training in vision: Being willing to see each and every situation and encounter through the eyes of gratitude helps you to see possibilities that you would otherwise be blind to.

Gratitude helps you to connect: Gratitude creates a deeper intimacy and oneness with life. It’s impossible to feel truly grateful and lonely at the same time.

Gratitude is from the heart: When you remember to be grateful, you also remember to live from your heart. Gratitude helps you to love your life more, and also to be a more loving person.

Gratitude is a healer: Being willing to be grateful for everything helps you to handle everything better. Gratitude is a willingness to see the gift in everything, eventually.

Gratitude teaches you what is real: The more you practice gratitude, the clearer you become about the truth of your life, and what is truly sacred to you.

Gratitude helps you to feel safe: Gratitude gives you a basic trust that you really do live in a friendly universe. Gratitude gives you faith that every life-event, no matter what it looks like,  is ultimately for your highest purpose.

Gratitude is a key to happiness: Gratitude shows you that the grass beneath your feet is greener than you think. Gratitude teaches you that happiness is always now.

Gratitude is a NOW thing: Gratitude helps you to enjoy your life as it happens. Gratitude has a spirit of immediacy that forces you to make contact with what is, right now, right here.

Gratitude helps you to be present: The more you practice gratitude, the more alive you feel. Less often do you get lost in modes of “doing” and “going,” and “chasing” and “waiting.” Gratitude helps you to be in your life.

Bo Holden: Shall We Have Some Fun Today?

My daughter, Bo, has recently celebrated her second birthday.  As you can see by the picture of her, she is all grown up now. 

Recently, Bo has taken to waking me up each morning with a little question that she whispers ever so sweetly into my ear.  The question is, Daddy, shall we have some fun today? 

What an invitation.

It’s the way Bo says it that really gets me.  She makes it sound so appealing. How can I say “No” to her?

Having fun is Bo’s greatest priority.  To her, that’s what life is for.  On waking, she chooses fun.  This choice is entirely spontaneous.  Nothing has to happen first before she chooses fun.  She doesn’t check to see if it’s the weekend; she doesn’t look outside to see what the weather is like; she doesn’t go online to check the Dow Jones index; she doesn’t look up her credit rating; and she doesn’t check her blood pressure first. 

Bo’s decision to enjoy her day appears to be entirely unassisted.  For example, she doesn’t meditate first, and then choose fun; she doesn’t do an affirmation, and then choose fun; she doesn’t drink a shot of wheatgrass or espresso, and then choose fun.  She doesn’t wait for the day to go well before she decides to enjoy it.  Bo simply enjoys herself.

And we can do the same.

In my book Be Happy I ask you to consider the question: what sort of a day have you decided to have today?  Are you conscious of what you decided?  Indeed, can you find the place in your mind where you have decided already how good today will be? 

In every moment there is a choice. 

And it is never too late to change your mind and enjoy yourself more.