ONE PRACTICE TO BE MORE GRATEFUL IN LIFE

I learnt about this practice while I was watching Oprah Winfrey’s commencement speech on youtube, she said one of the things she does to be happy and stay grateful in life is by keeping a GRATITUDE JOURNAL. And after that I read in numerous books and heard from a lot of great leaders about a GRATITUDE JOURNAL.

So what exactly is a GRATITUDE JOURNAL?!

A GRATITUDE JOURNAL is a diary or a journal where you account your everyday gratitude towards normal things in your life. You write down all the small and insignificant things that make up your daily life, like your shelter, the food you eat, the clean water you are lucky to have to drink, your clothes, shoes. All these things I mentioned may seem normal and especially highly insignificant to be grateful about, why the hell do I need to be grateful about my freaking slippers?! must be a thought striking your compact brain at the moment, what is the need to be grateful about these clothes when you can get them easily.

Now let me tell you why, did you know how many homeless people roam around on the streets every single day, these specific people don’t have a place called HOME, a shelter where they can live and sleep peacefully, protect themselves when there’s danger, in times like these pandemic. If you are able to read this I assume that you are educated and have a roof above your head, if you don’t I am so sorry.

Be grateful that GOD (or whatever you call or believe in) has given you a roof above your head and four walls to surround you in times like these.

BE GRATEFUL!

Did you know how many people and children go to sleep without a single slice of bread in their stomach, I will not bore you with the statistics, because I guess you know and you may have encountered people like these at least once in your lifetime. These children who don’t have anything to eat rummage through garbage cans, beg and steal to eat something you might throw away. Many times they go to bed without eating anything the entire day. Be grateful that you are provided with a plate with meal every day, you have groceries in your fridge, in your kitchen counters. you can head to your kitchen in midnight and eat anything out of your kitchen. not that i am trying to make you feel like you have done a crime by having food in your kitchen, i am just trying to make you realize how precious it is and that you deserve but don’t take it for granted.

BE GRATEFUL!!

These same kids also survive without clothes in all kinds of weathers. Either they have nothing or its just some kind of thin scrap of cloth wrapped around their malnourished bodies. I have seen my mother give away my old clothes to people who would come to beg around our houses. That day I realized something really important, “ there are people who don’t have enough to cover their bodies so much that they have to ask people for the leftover clothing. Oh how lucky am I to be blessed with all these clothes. Though they are not as many as my friends or someone I see on the internet, they are enough to keep my body covered and make me look pretty.” Be grateful that you have enough clothing in your closet and be grateful if you have more than anyone you know.

BE GRATEFUL!!!

I started writing making a GRATITUDE COLUMN in my daily journal from MARCH this year, and you don’t need to seek any expert advise in this field, because its all about you and your life. Whenever I jot down these 10-15 things that I am grateful for I am reminded of how blessed I am, I have heard this saying “COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSINGS” and I remember in my Christian school we used to sing a hymn like, “COUNT YOUR MANY BLESSING NAME THEM ONE BY ONE……” I don’t remember much. But at that time while singing I used to wonder what does this mean ( I was young and was learning English, I still am). It’s only now that I know what it means.

Helen Keller said, “be satisfied with what you have, while working for what you want.”

Everything you have in your life is a blessing you deserve and i want you to remember these blessings that not everyone is blessed with. i have seen people holding so much in their hands and crying for more and i have also seen people who do not have a lot but are elated with whatever they have. no matter what category you fall in, COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS.

HOW TO MAKE A GRATITUDE JOURNAL?

TAKE AN OLD DIARY OR A SMALL NOTEBOOK THAT IS EMPTY AND NOT IN USE FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSES.
TAKE A MARKER, SKETCH PEN OR ANYTHING YOU CHOOSE TO WRITE HEADING
WRITE ON THE TOP OF THE FIRST PAGE “GRATITUDE” AND MENTION THE MONTH BELOW FROM WHICHEVER MONTH YOU’RE STARTING THE JOURNAL
START MENTIONING DAYS OF THE MONTH, FOR EXAMPLE 1 JULY AND THEN LEAVE SPACE OF ABOUT 10-12 LINES AND MENTION THE OTHER DAY, THEN LEAVE SPACE FOR THAT DAY AND SO ON.
REPEAT THIS STEP FOR UNTIL THE END OF THE MONTH
THIS IS WHERE YOU’RE GOING TO MENTION THE THINGS YOU’RE GRATEFUL FOR, FOR EXAMPLE: YOUR PARENTS, YOUR SIBLINGS, YOUR SHELTER, FOOD, CLOTHES, ETC.
AND EVERY DAY IN THE MORNING OR BEFORE GOING TO BED JUST MAKE THIS ENTRY.
AND YOU ARE DONE!

Just try it for one month and tell us how you feel after this serene practice of being more grateful and happy in your life. you just have to start doing this, once you get in a habit, you will see changes in your self and your perspective of life.

At Crazyhues we aspire change for the better.

SO TRY THIS PRACTICE ONCE AND LET US KNOW AT crazyhuesamykray@gmail.com HOW IT FELT LIKE.