Cultivating Gratitude This November
As I write this, I’ve just come back from a once in a lifetime trip to Disney World Florida! I’ve been a full-blown Disney girl since I can remember and this trip has been on my bucket list since… well, forever!! An opportunity came up to go this year, and we took it- 6 of us and 1 baby- it was chaotic but so much fun and lived up to all my expectations… yay!!
So, as I write, I’m filled with an immense feeling of gratitude.
Gratitude for the trip, gratitude for my friends and partner who helped to make the experience extra special.
I’m also feeling so grateful for my lovely teacher friend Charlotte who covered classes whilst I was away and my students who are excited for my return!
I’m grateful that I can spend this Monday morning, sat in a coffee shop (whilst it rains outside) slowly working my way back into work. Taking it easy and releasing the hustle. Because the only pressure I have on myself, is pressure I place on myself.
I’m grateful for the business I have built, my perseverance and tenacity. My creativity and consistency. I am grateful that I was brave. Brave to leave corporate and start on this journey.
And I am forever grateful for the live I have cultivated. The friends, my love, my family and found family, my house and my community.
Also, I am grateful for the place we live…damn this countryside is nice, even in the rain!!
Anyway… you get the gist right. Gratitude.
That’s what November is all about.
As we move into the final two months of the year, it’s an amazing time to sit and reflect. Reflect on the year that has passed, reflect on the life we have cultivated, the choices we’ve made, the person we are today and to appreciate it all.
To feel grateful. Whether or not we’ve had a kind year or a challenging one… there are moments always for us to find the gratitude.
Now, to be grateful isn’t to force positivity, instead it’s about learning to notice the good in our lives whilst giving ourselves the compassion and grace to allow it to shine, no matter what is happening in our lives.
As we move through class this month we are going to be gifting ourselves the grace and compassion to acknowledge and receive this gratitude. Because, my friends, for some of us; and in certain times of our lives, it can be really hard to find the gratitude. For some of us it can be really hard to RECEIVE the gratitude, particularly when it comes from ourselves or people very close to us.
In class this month I am inviting us to really FEEL the gratitude. To allow it to wash over us.
To help us with all of this…we will be working with our heart chakra again this month, connecting once more to our own self-compassion, love and grace. These elements help us to acknowledge the reality of our lives without judgement so we make space for the good and find the gratitude.
We will also be working with Santosha. A yogic concept that essentially means contentment. It’s about appreciating what we have in the present moment and not focussing on what we could have in the future. i.e. I’ll be happy IF I move house/jobs etc.
Instead, it’s about appreciating the now, even though that might be full of challenges. It’s not about giving up on change, but it’s about finding moments of appreciation without needing life to be different first.
My story in finding gratitude
I’ve learnt over the last three years that gratitude is very much a practice. It’s not something that necessarily comes easily. Particularly if you are feeling a bit rubbish in yourself or your situation in life.
For me, when I was suffering with burnout and sadness it felt almost impossible to find the bright sparks. The moments of gratitude. There were times where I would just walk around the block on my own during covid (because we couldn’t go anywhere else!) and I would feel so isolated and trapped. I just wanted to escape. Escape my job mainly, but at the time it felt much bigger than that. I had moments of joy- with Matt at home, with my step kids over the weekends and with my deepening new friend connection I was making with my now best friend….but, these weren’t enough to lift my general mood.
Being a glass half full person naturally… this low mood didn’t feel right to me, it wasn’t comfortable and I wanted to get out of it. So, I made a choice. I dragged myself out. I went to therapy, started regular exercise, changed my diet and began practicing little snippets of gratitude; those moments of joy I could focus on.
When moments of darkness came again, I could think about my weekend with the kids and the joy they had watching strictly with me and I would feel grateful for the relationship we have. Sparks like that helped shift the dark. Just a little at first.
Fast forward a couple of years and it’s time to leave my corporate job. I meet my now great friend Catherine, who has very similar experiences to me with burnout and we immediately bonded over that and many many many other things!! She had the idea to become each others gratitude accountability partners. Each day we would send each other our gratitude’s for the previous day.
Two years later and we still do it almost every day! At first, it felt a bit stupid. Maybe a little self-conscious too. It felt awkward having a gratitude that was about something we had achieved or the life we had both built for ourselves. So, it started small.
‘Today I am grateful for the sunshine.’… ‘Today I am grateful for my outfit choice.’
Slowly, as we got more comfortable sharing, our gratitude’s got bigger, deeper and sometimes very self-appreciating haha!!
‘Today I am grateful for how amazing I am.’ …. ‘Today I am grateful for my ability to solve hard problems.’
This feels so good!! Bigging yourself up and sharing that with somebody who is willing to celebrate you too.
Now I find it easy for me to cultivate gratitude and share it publicly. It doesn’t have to be big and bold each time, sometimes I’m still just grateful for the weather.
Wellbeing practice
I’ve definitely shared this one with you before, but it’s such a goody I wanted to share again.
Cultivating your own gratitude practice.
Begin small… once a week maybe on a Sunday, reflect on the week and speak (out loud or in your head) one thing you are grateful for.
‘This week I am grateful for….’
If you feel comfortable, maybe even share that with a friend or loved one.
You could even write it down in a gratitude journal. This can be super helpful for when those dark days come and we can’t think of anything. It’s a nice little reminder to revisit past gratitude’s and note how relevant they still are for us today.
Eventually you could build up to doing this daily.
Notice how your body feels when you begin the practice- journal it.
Three weeks later, notice how your body feels again – journal it. Is there a difference?
I’m excited for us all to practice gratitude together this month!
See you on the mat.
Love, Tash xx
