Oh So Grateful: A Gratitude Practice

This busy holiday season has kept me away from much of my blog writing but I thought I'd share my gratitude practice here for the next 20 days. Each day through Christmas I'm posting one thing for which I'm grateful. I've been thinking a lot about gratitude and being thankful over the last few months and one thing I've come to realize is that the best way to a happy and fulfilling life is through gratitude. Instead of focusing on what we don't have, we must focus on what we do have. There is so much to be grateful for in each and every moment.

One of my yoga instructors recently said that while we can't control what happens around us - our life situation, the people in our lives, or the events that transpire - we can control 3 things: our thoughts, our words, and our actions. This has really stuck with me as a reminder that we have more control, more power, over our lives than we realize. Its so easy to let the ego take over and place blame on external circumstances and other people as the source of our unhappiness, stress, or sadness. The truth, though, is that no one outside of ourselves can control how we think about, how we feel about, and how we live our lives. Instead of dwelling on all the things that aren't the way we want them to be, instead of focusing on all the things we don't have, we can find peace and contentment through the practice of gratitude. Being grateful for even the littlest things, or the things we take for granted, like food on the table or a roof over our head, can bring us great joy. The more we think about and embrace the good in our lives, letting go of our wants and our sense of lack, the more at peace we will be.

Life is good. Its a gift that is filled with an abundance of things tok be grateful for. Choose happiness, choose joy, choose gratitude, and choose to be at peace within.

Oh So Grateful Day 1: 

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about #gratitude. As part of #myyearofyoga I thought I would add one post each day from now through Christmas of something for which I am #grateful. Today I'm grateful for these little angels and all the heartwarming smiles they bring to my life.

Oh So Grateful Day 2: 

Today I'm #grateful for this generous little spirit who picked out and wrapped her brother's and daddy's Christmas gifts.