< PreviousSo, the benefits are compelling, but how can you effectively practice gratitude in your life? TIPS FOR PRACTICING GRATITUDEThere are many ways that you can be more grateful, here are my top tips for practicing gratitude:1. Write a gratitude diary/journalContrary to popular belief, studies suggest that less is actually more. The best formula, based on studies, is to write less things, make them about people rather than objects, include more detail and do your journal less of-ten (once a week) to help deliver better outcomes. 2. Write a gratitude letterExpressing gratitude in this way has been shown to be highly effective in boosting happiness. In simple terms write about the thing you are grateful for in detail, deliver it yourself and read it out loud to the person concerned. For more detail on the process, the Greater Good in Action website is a great resource.3. Use mindfulness to be more gratefulWhenever you practice mindfulness, you allow yourself to see beyond the unconscious negativity bias that filters out the things you are grateful for. You don’t have a to be an expert meditator to practice this, there are many other ways to be more mindful, like mindful savouring, eat-ing, observation or just focusing on one thing in the moment. All of these types of mindfulness can help you to practice gratitude.4. Family thank-yous Having a daily ritual where you share the things you are thankful for with family members is a great way to practice gratefulness. You can do this after or during dinner, or as I do, with your children as part of their bedtime reading routine. This ends the day, by being grateful as a family, and provides plenty of positive emotion to help end your day on a high note.―SHINE ONby Rustie MacDonaldThere are so many things to share about Gratitude but I will start with this, STORMS. What? Wait? Storms? Why are we talking about storms when we are to talk about gratitude? Well, we all go through storms in life. We are all shaped by the issues in our life. The Pain. The Sorrow. The Lust for something more. I, personally, have endured a lot of life storms - rape, abuse, homelessness, and poverty, to living as a struggling single mother at a time when misogyny is on the rise. I am asked often why I am so chip-per, happy, positive? How can I fight major battles and still be happy? What is it that keeps me going through my current storm? It is simply, gratitude. I am so complete-ly humbled by my tragedy that I can only see what is good. What is impor-tant. The next question I get is how can I be “grateful” for abuse, for rape, for homelessness, and so on. Well, the answer is simple. The facts are that I have learned a lot about endurance, my personal strength, trust, honesty, and I have learned that I am a warrior when I need to be. I have found val-ues in the small things that I would not have known unless I learned from these lessons. I have a choice everyday how my day will be and in that I choose to wallow or to be as joyous as I can be. I can look in the mirror and tell myself I look horrible or I can look in the mir-ror and tell myself that I did a great job yesterday on…… I make the choice as to what is ahead of me. I choose to be grateful for all the wonderful things in this life. Even on my dark-est days, I search for things to be grateful for. Like the fact that almost everyday, I can find a beautiful rainbow, or appreciate the dance of a dragonfly.I find gratitude in the fact that I write about my storms and inspire folks to be a better version of themselves. That’s humbling. I couldn’t be more grateful to know that I have helped someone get through their storm. HERE IS HOW I “GRATITUDE”: Every morning before I get out of bed, I find a funny meme and post something to remind myself and others how important today is. How important it is to try our best to be a better version of ourselves than we were yes-terday. To look at the world from a new perspective, because today is a new chance. A new time to reflect on the Good that you have. Everyone has the Bad. There is no one who lives a perfect wrinkle free life. However, I ask that when you wake, embrace the wrinkles of your life because tucked away in the crevices there is good. Every morning when I write my morning post, I remind myself what I am grateful for. I write about my daughter and her achievements, her silly dog Bella, the weather, the way my body feels lying in bed and how grateful I am to simply have a bed.I write about how blessed I feel for whatever new opportunity comes, and I clearly remind folks how grateful I am for them. The people in your life are a huge part of your life.Even if they are not actively in your life, they hear you. See you on so-cial media. They are there. Gratitude is not just about going through a long list of preconceived words or someone else’s thoughts. Gratitude is about you really feel-ing good about the good parts of your life. Gratitude can help you ac-cept the not so good parts. I know, it seems like it would not. However, if you can truly experience life in its light and its dark moments, you tru-ly experience what it means to be living. Embracethe wrinkles of your life...Gratitude offers a glimmer of life. A glimmer of acknowledging the joys of living. Even when the darkness engulfs you and you are crawling on the ground trying to survive. Find that Hope. Try a little harder. Squint as the light at the end of your storm may be faint, but I promise it is there. Find that Beauty. The key to this is to do what you can do to stay in a state of gratitude. It is you who is in control of how you feel and if you have too fake it, do so. Pretend to be happy or find a funny comic to make you smile. Watch a You-Tube video of silly animals. You are in control of your day. You are in control of your moment. When you are grateful, your whole posture changes, your skin is softer and you shine. Life is to be in JOY and when you are prac-ticing joy every day, your body thanks you. Gratitude is simply acknowledging the things, people and events that bring joy to you. Gratitude is the key to becoming successful in life and living. Gratitude is knowing that you have learned something new. Go out there and shine on. In gratitude, you inspire others to shine like you. I am grateful for you. Next >