Tag Archives: gratitude

Gratitude Experiment, in review

  1. Spend the first 5-10 minutes of your day practicing gratitude.
  2. Let someone know you’re grateful for them.
  3. Smile, even when you’re not in a smiley mood.
  4. Start the day by telling yourself, “I’M FRICKIN’ AWESOME!”

That last one’s a new one I’m gonna send you off for spring break with. And if you wanna step it up a notch, I challenge you to, at the same time, literally jump out of bed and yell it out loud and proud. Yes, it is a little silly. But what’s wrong with being a little silly? You’re frickin’ awesome.

Got anymore tips for practicing gratitude and adding joy to your life? Share it in the comments!

Gratitude Experiment, iii

Even the simulation of an emotion tends to arouse it in our minds. -Charles Darwin, 1872

Smile. Smile even if you don’t feel like you’re in a particularly smiley mood. Smile especially if you don’t feel like you’re in a particularly smiley mood. I’m not saying that you need to be happy all the time or that you need to try to be, because all your feelings are valid and it’s okay not to be okay, but there is a science behind smiling. Don’t take my word for it; give it a try!

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Gratitude Experiment, ii

As promised, I’m here with the second challenge of the Gratitude Experiment. Let someone know you are grateful for them. It doesn’t seem like much, but sometimes all a person needs is a little validation. Check out this short video by Kurt Kuenne about “a parking attendant who gives his customers REAL validation — dispensing both free parking and free compliments.”

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Gratitude Experiment

What if you spent the first 5 or 10 minutes of your day practicing gratitude? Those 10 minutes you spend lying in bed after your alarm goes off, your brain telling you to get up but your body resisting… What if you just stayed there, laid there? Start your day with happy thoughts.

Come back next week and tell me what you’ve been grateful for. I’ll share some of mine too. And I’ll also be back with another challenge for the week!

Check out this excellent article by Leo Babuta of Zen Habits on The Transformative Power of the Gratitude Habit. My favourite example is: “When I procrastinate with a project, I can look at why I’m grateful to be able to work on that project.”