GRATITUDE OUT LOUD

When I crawl into bed at night, I feel the safe and supportive bed beneath me and am grateful. Each night I say in my head, "Thank you so much for my bed!"

I started making this simple nightly statement of gratitude at the end of the day years ago when I was working four part-time jobs and juggling single parenthood by choice. While we were never too close to being homeless, my family and friends would make sure of that, life sometimes felt more than a little precarious and having a safe and comfortable landing place for my myself and my daughter at the end of the day was a big deal.

Lately, instead of saying, "Thank you so much for my bed!" in my head, I have started to it out loud and have found that my moment of gratitude for this one simple thing turns into so much more. Sometimes I start reciting more things I am thankful for - things that often surprise me. Other times, my words turns into a prayer of more gratitude, lament, or hopes for the day to come. My favorite experience is when my words make unexpected twists and turns revealing things that should have been obvious to me otherwise. It is a beautiful meandering of thoughts and emotions that I had so tightly been holding in my spirit. They seem to have been just waiting for the opportunity to leap out and enlighten me!

Gratitude out loud, coaxing the conscious or subconscious into language, helps us become more aware of where we are in the present moment. It makes space for things to surface, sit, and become clearer. In speaking, we slow down and allow gratitude, or whatever presents itself, to surface and we stay longer in the moment. That is mindfulness.

This simple ritual is allowing me to get to know myself - the myself of right now - in an entirely surprising and beautiful way!

I highly recommend this evening practice for the new year. Start with one repeated statement of gratitude, say it out loud, and allow it to turn into more gratitude, a prayer, or just beautiful meandering.

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