If you read and followed along with Day 1 of the 7 day practice, you are now out of bed and starting to look forward to your day, already feeling lighter and brighter.
This next Attitude of Gratitude exercise involves practicing gratitude while completing your morning ritual.
Ritual?
“I don’t have a morning ritual!” I can hear you all saying this as you are reading.
BUT I bet if you think about it you have more ritual in your morning than you realize.
You get up out of bed, you go to the bathroom, you make the bed (or not), you walk the dogs, make the coffee, drink the coffee, trip on the cat, pick up the house, and much of this is done without consciously thinking about it but out of habitual repetition.
We all create activity-based patterns (rituals) that we follow which help us move through our day in a systematic way.
Here is how you can combine the next Attitude of Gratitude exercise with your current morning ritual.
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Recognize your morning ritual and how you benefit from it.
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Now pay attention to one aspect of your ritual – perhaps it’s the sipping of your coffee or the walking of your dog or looking out your window at the outside world.
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Call to mind something you feel grateful for in that moment. Slow it down, name it, and take it in. Perhaps you are grateful for:
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the smell of your coffee
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the warmth of your cup
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the joy of your dog
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the quiet of your morning
Note: Receive extra credit when you write about this experience in your gratitude journal OR when you share your experience with someone – a family member, friend, co-worker (it’s not required that this person be in your physical space “sharing” with you but that you verbally “share” it with them – because that might just be weird if your co-worker is at your home “sharing” your ritual with you – or not).
“Find Joy in the Ordinary”
See you on Day 3.
Thankful for you,
Coach Jill