A few weeks ago I was standing in the pounding Indian Ocean feeling the force of the waves and I had a sense of such deep gratitude for my life, both the joy and the obstacles I’ve faced this year and the people I love.
I was standing there because a friend said, “I feel like I need a friend at the moment”. So I jumped on a plane and was there. That was about friendship, but it was also about the gratitude I have for the place she holds in my life.
Gratitude is such a simple way to access appreciation in your life. It can switch the mundane to the magical. Cultivating gratitude increases wellbeing, happiness, energy, optimism and empathy.
More importantly, when you show gratitude to the people in your life (not just at home, but at work too) it creates a kind of wonderfulness; a vibration that you can feel.
I recently ran a gratitude process with my team… and it went something like this.
Gratitude circle
With my team, we sat in a circle with one person in the centre and told them why we were grateful for them. We were specific to moments, lessons and impacts. We talked about how we had changed because of their impact on our lives
See gratitude on paper
With paper and pens (a bunch of colours of course) we answered these questions:
- This year I am most grateful for:
- The five things I’m grateful for this year:
- The person I am most grateful for is:
- Three other people who touched me this year are:
- The things I did this year for other people include:
- The things I feel most blessed to have in my life now are:
You can do these exercises at home and at work. As one year morphs into the next, there are so many forgotten moments and people left unthanked who contributed to our lives. With these exercises I hope the grace of gratitude invokes much abundance and love into your life – personally and professionally.