The Importance of Practicing Gratitude

In my live series on my Facebook page and in my Facebook group, I have shared about three things that keep my emotional health stable.  I call it my trifecta of emotional wellness.  The three legs of the trifecta are journaling, prayer, and expressing gratitude.

I began keeping a gratitude practice around 2005.  And something I noticed about practicing gratitude was that as you showed the Source of All That Is Infinite in the Universe (however you choose to refer to said source; I prefer God, but respect all other names) what you were grate*full for, that source would give you more reasons to be grate*full. 

I had gotten out of practice with my gratitudes.  I couldn't find a good way to express them that felt right to me.  I had tried writing them down in a notebook.  I joined a Facebook group called The Collecting Gratitude Collective.  I tried keeping them in my journal.  Nothing was working.

I decided this past week that I needed to start practicing what I preached and I got really intentional about it, and, when I went to bed on Thursday, I actively set my mind on going into The Collecting Gratitude Collective and posting five things I was grate*full for. 

On Saturday, my kids had been invited to a birthday celebration for my youngest daughter's best friend.  It was at Eldridge Park, which has a midway in the summertime with a few rides.  One of the rides is a fast-moving carousel.  I've never been on a carousel like it.  It's one of my favorite things about living in Elmira.

Alas, I didn't get to go.  We'd had laundry building up for a few weeks (IKR?) and so I dropped my husband and the kids off at the park and, after procrastinating as long as possible by getting gas and stopping at Wegman's to get lunch, I headed to the laundromat.

I had NINE loads of laundry, ah ah ah.  By the time I got to the laundromat and got every stitch washing, it was time to go pick my husband and the kids up from the park.  So I picked them up and took them home, and then I went back to the laundromat. 

It was then that I met Miss Roxanne.

At first, it was just a cursory exchange of pleasantries and some polite conversation.  I got my nine loads of laundry all into dryers and got them going.  As I loaded the last couple of loads into the dryer, the first loads started to be dry, so I started to pull them out and fold them.  I was at the laundromat without the kids, so I was painstakingly taking my time to fold each thing neatly, as opposed to hurriedly shoving clothes into bags like I do when I have the kids with me.  Usually, by the time things are dry, they have had it up to their eyeballs with the laundromat and just want to go home. 

As I folded the first load, the second, third, and fourth load finished drying.  I just patiently worked on my folding, and then an amazing thing happened.

Miss Roxanne, while waiting for her stuff to wash, started to pull my stuff out and fold it alongside me. She paused long enough to transfer her things from washer to dryer, and then jumped right back in.  All told, she probably folded about half my laundry, and then she even helped me bag it up and load it into my car!  And by helping me load it into my car, I mean doing the lion's share of the work!

Of my seven bags of laundry, I only had to load two...she did the rest!

Without Miss Roxanne's help, I probably would have been at that laundromat until it closed.  As it was, by the time I started folding, it was almost 6 PM.  This was not your ordinary run of the mill random act of kindness.  This was a HUGE random act of kindness.  I firmly believe that this was the result of being intentional and active my gratitude practice.  I list five things I'm grate*full for every day.  This was worth all five gratitudes and then some! 

First of all, I probably would have closed the laundromat, still being there folding.

Secondly, everyone's clothes were sorted into their own bag, with separate bags for the towels and blankets.  This makes it so much easier to put the clothes away!

Third, it turned out that she was washing nap mats for her sister's daycare, and it turned out to be the same daycare where my daughter's best friend goes.  So we had a really nice conversation about how cute and sweet my daughter's best friend is and how much fun she and my daughter had together at Head Start.  (It was actually the same little girl whose birthday my family had been celebrating at Eldridge Park.)

Then, today, I cut a turn short in a parking lot and ran my car up on a curb, popping the right rear tire.  Thank God, no one was hurt.  Thank God, we were at Barnes and Noble, and Pick-a-Part was less than a mile away.  Thank God, they had a tire that fit my car and cut me a deal that I could afford.  Thank God for the kind soul who stopped to help us when we couldn't use my old rusty jack to lift the car high enough and offered us his floor jack.  Then he mounted the new tire for us! 

I almost didn't do my gratitudes last night, promising myself I'd do them in the morning.  I am so grate*full I made myself do them before I fell asleep!  You'd better believe that tonight, I'll do them first thing!

By the way, that kind soul who helped us with his floor jack turned out to be a cousin by marriage of someone I used to work with.  To quote SARK, "We are all so indelibly connected to one another."

If you would like a tracking sheet for rewarding yourself for doing journaling, prayer, and gratitude, sign up for our mailing list!

Celebrating Small Accomplishments

Happy New Year, kind readers! As creatives, we are more subject to mental illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder.  The scientific jury is out on whether a proven link exists between creativity and these disorders, the most prominent link being between creativity and bipolar disorder.  A link between creativity and depression, though not necessarily scientifically proven, seems to exist anecdotally among myself, my friends, and people in Facebook groups I frequent (and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing).

In 2005, right around my 30th birthday, I didn't know where my life was going.  I went into Barnes and Noble, looking for a guided journal that would speak to me and help me get back on the right track.  The best they had to offer was this little black book with a clock on the front called Do It Now! by Pat Croce.  It gave you a to-do list with 23 blanks, and then a second page for follow-up.  At the time, it turned out to be worth it, because I was literally so depressed that I was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I started to put things on my "Do It Now!" list that included things like "Get out of bed," "Take a shower," "Brush your teeth," and “Get dressed."  It was in the process of doing those little accomplishments that I started to get my mojo back.  I could do small things that made me feel better.  Being able to check those things off on my to-do list gave me a sense of accomplishment, like my day hadn't been a total waste of precious time, and that the space that I take up on this planet was not a waste.  So, I recommend just using a blank piece of notebook paper, numbered to 23.  And make your to-do list items as small as possible.  If you have a creative dream that you're working on, this approach works for that too.

My creative dream right now, in addition to building my following with Succulent Diva, is a nonprofit of my creation, the Everybody Can Play Music Collective.  I've been getting disheartened with it over the past year or so just because we're not getting the word out as fast as I would like.  We had an organization that was going to fiscally sponsor us, and that has fallen by the wayside.  I've tried to crowdfunding to fundraise with only minimal success.  We have nine kids on a waiting list right now because I can't float the cost of buying their books out of pocket anymore.  A lot of little things have been getting me down.  My friend Andrea Schroeder has a business called the Creative Dream Incubator, which includes a paid subscription site called the Creative Dream Circle.  Recently, within the circle, they did a mastermind called Creating Momentum, where each person was supposed to pick a reason they were participating in the Mastermind and commit to one tiny goal each day, and then they were supposed to report back to the group after they completed their goal.  I got more done in that month than I had in many months, just because I was actually working on the dream itself and had made a commitment to it.

So, whether you're birthing a creative dream, or just having trouble getting out of bed in the morning, setting tiny goals and celebrating their accomplishments can help you.  You can choose how you want to celebrate your accomplishments. I usually choose one particular thing I’m working on for a particular day/week/month and then put a sticker on my calendar if I accomplish that thing.

Please leave comments below telling us how you celebrate your small accomplishments!