World Gratitude Day 2023
Did you know that today, September 21, is World Gratitude Day? It has been around since the 1960’s, but I only came across it in recent years. Read two of my previous posts about this day here.
Every day is a day to live gratefully, and that is my goal. If today can serve as a springboard to get more people practicing and sharing gratefulness, all the better. The day in and day out is where the real transformation comes in though.
Besides writing about it here, I will be sharing World Gratitude Day actions with colleagues and students at school today. “Gratitude shared is gratitude multiplied.” Gratefulness generates good energy within and to share with others we interact with. The classic win-win, needed today in a world with plenty of divisiveness and suffering.
If you are new to the idea of having a regular gratitude practice, here are some ideas to get the ball rolling:
Pause where you are. Look around and notice five things to be grateful for right here, right now.
Do an A-Z gratitude list. One or two things for each letter of the alphabet. Even if you don’t get all the way to Z, you’ll have a good number and a good energy going.
Take a gratitude walk in Nature. Tune in to one sense at a time. What do you see? Hear? Smell?
Do a 3 x 3 > 9 or any variation of it. Synergy.
Start a gratitude journal, or pick the one you started back up. I used to write in mine daily. Now, I take time 2-3 times a week to give focus to three gratitudes and also have a little conversation with my Higher Power/Great Spirit and list a few intentions for others. Living gratefully generates compassion.
Sit down. Close your eyes. Put your hand(s) over your heart and feel your own breathing. Give thanks for air and our amazing human bodies.
Send a gratitude note or text to someone, or do an A-Z list back and forth with them.
Dive a little deeper and write a gratitude letter to someone who has made a difference to you. Send it in the mail, or call and read it to them.
Before your next meal, pause and give thanks for the many natural and human steps that took place to get that food in front of you.
Check out options at Grateful Living.
Join Steve Foran’s Daily Gratitudes/Habitual Ritual.
Look for opportunities to verbalize a thank you to someone who may not be expecting it.
There are endless ways to generate gratefulness. They all require action and time, but the rewards will keep coming and surprise you in ways you would never expect. Happy World Gratitude Day! Have a good day!
