Here’s a gratitude challenge that I think a lot of us will enjoy. especially since everybody has a cellphone that takes pictures. Also, with the popularity of social networks like Instagram, Facebook, and God knows what else. It’s clear to see that we like pictures.
The question that we should be asking ourselves is this. Do we really see what we’re seeing?
Do we actually look at the pictures in our lives with aww and reverie? Or do we take a glance and move on to the next thing that grabs our attention?
You know that we are all guilty of being in a hurry to go nowhere. Ouch, that stung a bit, didn’t it. Well, it was supposed to. That’s what focused gratitude is all about. Getting us to slow down and see what we have been missing. This also causes us to feel a bit guilty too, because we realize how ungrateful we have been in various areas of our lives. I personally believe that this explains much of our quote un quote unhappiness. You see, “it is not happiness that makes us grateful. It’s gratefulness that makes us happy.”
Here’s a challenge from a Ted Talk given by, Hailey Bartholomew in 2008. She had a beautiful life. Two healthy kids, a loving devoted husband, a roof over her head, etc. Yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. She felt, blah… She said she didn’t feel anything for her life anymore.
She went to her counselor and was told to write down what she was grateful for at the end of the day. They wanted her to take just ten minutes and reflect on everything she could to be grateful for. The idea was that she would see what she was overlooking throughout her day, and that would create the internal shift that she needed. She did the exercises and loved them. She loved the feeling that she received from doing them so much, and she decided that she wanted more of that feeling. Hailey decided to remix the gratitude practice by taking a photo a day for a whole year. She’s a photographer and figured that doing something she loved like taking photos would enhance her feelings of gratefulness.
Side note: (She committed to doing this for a year. You already know that repetition is the king of all habits when it comes to forming lasting change. Hailey wanted to change her feelings about life, so she committed to going all in on her gratitude process.)
She took all sorts of photos and everything was fine. Here’s where things got interesting. She didn’t feel that her husband was particularly romantic. He wasn’t the buy you flowers all of the time type. They didn’t go out a lot and whatnot. One day, she was trying to figure out what would be the subject of her gratitude picture. She looked over and saw her “unromantic” husband serving dinner to her and their family. This is what happened next – “I was looking around the room, and then I saw my husband serving dinner,” she says. “In the corner of my eye, I watched as he put the biggest piece of pie on my plate, and I was like, ‘Whoa’ … And he was doing that every day — he was putting me fully first. But I was not seeing it because I was not looking.”
This reminds me of an exercise that Tony Robbins does. He asks people to think of a color like brown. Then he tells them to look for as much of the color brown that they can find. What tends to happen is that all day long, those people look for the color brown everywhere they are. The strange thing is that they find the color. They notice the color brown in things that they look at every day but never pay close attention to.
This begs the question. What blessings are we not fully experiencing because we’re not looking for them?
Here’s the Challenge:
Take pictures throughout the day and really look at them. Look for the beauty in them. The beauty that you see in them is literally the beauty that’s all around you.
The more that you take these free flowing type photos, the more you will become adept at finding gratitude in your world. You will also find it easier to make gratitude subjects for the day and find corresponding pictures that represent what your grateful for.
Give this a shot for 5 to 10 days. Set out each day to have a gratitude subject. Take a picture of something or someone that represents what your grateful for. At the end of the day write about it and really take the time to see what you saw.
21 Day Gratitude Challenge
In a study by Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, college students who wrote a few sentences about gratitude each week for 10 weeks were more positive and optimistic about their lives than those who wrote about irritations and frustrations. The study also found that these students exercised more and had fewer visits to the doctor. I don’t know about you, but that’s enough for me to give focused gratitude a try.
What is focused gratitude? It’s the practice of making it a point to set aside time to really focus on things in our life to be grateful for. This practice takes us a past the obligatory, ” I’m thankful for a roof over my head, my job, food on the table, etc.” This practice leads us into the nooks a crannies of life. For instance, I’m grateful for the neighborhood that I live in. My grocery stores have fresh food. I’m grateful for clean water to consume. Ask yourself this. When was the last time you really gave thanks for the ability to wash your hands with soap while you were out and about?
This gratitude challenge is a cool way to give us a little structure in our approach to practicing gratitude on a daily basis. It helps us tune in to the rhythm of the universe, which is love and forward growth.
Doing this for 21 days helps build and reinforce the habit of always looking for and seeing the best. ” Seek and ye shall find.”
Without further ado, let’s get this gratitude party started.
Day 1: Tell us why you chose to do this challenge and what do you expect to get from doing it.
Day 2: Write about something that you feel grateful for in your life today.
Day 3: Take a picture of a person, place, or even a pet that makes you feel grateful. Try to think of specific moments in time that you felt most grateful.
Day 4: Send a card to someone. It doesn’t have to be a birthday card either. Send a card to someone telling them how cool they are, or what it is about them that you are grateful for.
Day 5: When your in line today, whether it’s at the gas station or grocery store. Be sure to look the cashier in the eye and tell them thank you. If you want extra credit, give them a few bucks, and see how good it will make you feel.
Day 6: Take five minutes to wrote about how grateful you are for all of the wonderful things that you currently have in your life.
Day 7: Do a random act of kindness
This can be small or large! Not sure what to do? Try one of these:
• Pick up litter at your nearby park
• Bake cookies for a nursing home or neighbors
• Make dinner for a family that needs a night off
• Leave a kind note or money in a library book
• Pay for someone’s meal or coffee
• Leave an unusually large tip
• Thank a teacher with a small gift
• Get groceries for a senior
• Lend someone a book or movie you love
Day 8: Look in the mirror and love yourself. We are too hard on ourselves for all of the wrong reasons sometimes. Let’s turn that negativity ship around, and love on ourselves. ( Hey, if you find this difficult, you really need to do this more than just for today)
Day 9: Write about a meal you are grateful for. Write about your favorite meal and how it makes you feel. I love to eat, so this may take me , . Think about the fact that you and I can afford to eat the way that we do. Isn’t that a blessing.
Day 10: Buy someone something to eat. Don’t be too cheap about it either. It can be a gift card or someone that you are near in line while waiting for your food. You can buy their food too. Some people even choose to surprise the person that’s behind them in the drive thru and purchase their meal for them.
Day 11: Thank the Lord for your purpose. And if you don’t know what your purpose is. Give thanks for it anyway. The answer will come to you. Remember, your praise and gratitude open doors that money and education can’t.
Day 12: Pick one of your five senses and give thanks for them. I don’t care if one of them ain’t working as well as you would like. Give praise anyway and watch God move.
Day 13: Take a moment and give thanks for the folks around you. This could be your neighbors, coworkers, or family. Think about their unique talents and personalities that help make your life work.
Day 14: Give thanks for the negative stuff in your life. You read that correctly, the negative. Just write a small message of thanks about that breakup, losing that job, that sickness, etc. This is not easy to do, but I guarantee you that God has some oil in it for you.
Day 15: Today, we are going to live with the attitude that things are working out for us. Today, we will go all out at being positive. We won’t be keeping it real today. We will keep it blessed and highly favored.
Day 16: This is going to suck, but it will be a blessing. Pick a family member or friend that you have regular contact with. Try your best to view their actions through a positive lens. I want you to assume that they mean well, and if that’s too much. I want you to know that all things are working for you and not against you.
Day 17: Write a letter of gratitude to someone that you don’t get along with. It can be a text, dm of Facebook, or an email. If you’re bold, you can call them too. Find something good to say to them about themselves. This is not for you to air out your grievances. This is all about you making room for the miraculous in your life.
Day 18: Stand in front of the mirror today and pat yourself on the back. You are a tough, courageous somebody. You are changing your life doing this crazy spiritual challenge. I think you deserve a round of applause.
Day 19: Think about a goal that you achieved and show that moment some love.
Day 20: Write a thank you note to yourself. Thank yourself for being a bold action taker. Know that you are not like most people. You are courageous, consistent,, kind, and a little crazy?.
Day 21: Take yourself out today. You did this challenge and that deserves some celebration. If you’re like me, you would probably go out and get that favorite meal that you’re grateful for ?
