“I am grateful for having an address.” Answered a patient when I asked what she was grateful for that day. It is my habit to ask that question while I am writing their prescriptions at the end of their session. I looked at her inquisitively.
She told me that as she was homeless for two months, she did not have an address to get her mail. She explained that as soon as she settled in the housing she found, she went to the post office to update her address. She still had a daunting task of calling all her creditors. They may have charged her penalties for not paying in time because she did not get her mail for those months.
Have you ever thought about that?
Are you grateful for having an address?
A place where you can get your mail. A place where you can go to bed when you want to. ( She told me that when you are sleeping on other people’s coaches, you can’t go to bed when you want. You have to fit your host’s schedule. ) A home where you feel relatively safe. (She shared that when you are sleeping in a car, you are always on alert because anybody can come and rob you, hurt you, or ask you to move).
I realized how many things we take for granted.
Therefore I write my gratitude journal every day and have done it for 14 years. I have seen its benefit, and therefore I am on a mission to educate and motivate you so you can feel the contentment too.
When you write a gratitude journal every day, you can bring attention to simple things in life that you may have taken for granted. Once you bring those to your awareness, your focus shifts from what is missing in life to what is there in your life. You can feel more content. When something is wrong, you are hurting, or things are not going according to your desire, your mind keeps focusing on that. If you have a practice of writing a gratitude journal, you can shift your mood from the negative to positive every day. I think this is the easiest and cheapest way to enhance contentment in life.
Do you practice gratitude journaling? If yes, please share your success story on how it helps you.
If not, start today. Begin with the primary prompt of “I am grateful for” ( IGF in short), and list all the things for which you are thankful.
Once you get used to doing that, you can add other prompts. I have developed Guided Gratitude Journal to help you in this process. You can get your copy at https://www.stresstojoy.com/gratitudejournal
Dr. Rozina
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I share many tools and techniques that I have found to be helpful. They are not intended to replace treatments. Please seek treatment from licensed medical or health professionals as needed. I change all names for privacy.
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