Being Grateful is a Game Changer

We’ve all heard the phrase “start each day with a grateful heart”. It’s on tshirts, trendy wooden signs for your home, and all over Pinterest. But have you ever really thought about what waking up with a truly grateful heart could do to your heart?

I have been listening to the RISE podcast with Rachel Hollis for a little over a year now. If you don’t listen to it – I would absolutely recommend it. It is uplifting, encouraging, and seriously intentional. She talks about her Start Today Journal and how she lists three things she is grateful for every day. So, I started to adopt that challenge, too.

Now, she says in her podcasts that she doesn’t necessarily mean write down the big stuff everyday. For instance, I am grateful for my sweet husband everyday, but I needed to make a conscious effort to not write him down ALL THE TIME. I needed to challenge myself to think about things that I normally wouldn’t be so grateful for.

I won’t lie to you, when I started doing this, it was tougher than I thought. I was thinking “big”. I would write down things like my pups, our house, our families, and work. Now don’t get me wrong sister, I am SUPER grateful for those things! They are some of the greatest joys of my life. But being grateful for the little things, that is what was going to change my heart.

The more I challenged myself to look a little closer at the stuff I was grateful for, the more I felt my heart shift. I could literally FEEL the shift. Something unpleasant would happen and I started to say out loud “You have so much to be grateful for. Don’t let this inconvenience destroy your spirit.” I became grateful for things I took for granted. Things like my morning cup of coffee in my very favorite mug, the girl at work who always goes out of her way to say hi, snuggles from my pups after a really long day, the physical ability to go on a run whenever I wanted, and the hug I got from my husband every day when he came home. I started noticing the small stuff that really, in the grand scheme of things, ends up having a big impact.

Being GRATEFUL for the little things can change you to your core. It’s a conscious mindset shift for sure. You have to really make the decision to look for the things that boost you during the day that maybe you would have overlooked previously. We are all a little guilty, myself included, of taking advantage of the small occurrences that make our days a little brighter. BUT WE CAN’T. We have to work to be better at being grateful.

I got news for you girl, buying that sign or wearing that tshirt that says “start each day with a grateful heart” isn’t going to help you actually start each day with a grateful heart. That is something YOU have to take responsibility for. You have to make the conscious decision to stop letting things slip on by you. Make an effort to notice those things and be grateful for them.

The small stuff really is the big stuff guys. Please never forget that!

So what are we grateful for? I want to hear from you! Drop a comment below and let a girl know! Let’s all work together on gratitude.

All my love,
Kelly