Here's How to Cultivate a Gratitude Practice in 5 Easy Steps

Simple everyday gratitude is required to make a life worth living. 

Photo by bady abbas on Unsplash

Hooray! I’m here for another glorious never-before-lived day!

Beginning each day with a guided meditation awakens not only me — but gratitude that I’m alive.

I discovered Vedic Master teacher and author DavidJi through my explorations for guided meditations. DavidJi hosts empowerment workshops worldwide and is the author of three global best-selling books. 

Though impressive, the reason I love meditating with him is his heartfelt belief that meditation heals and gratitude makes life worth living. These are ideas I value, as well.

Here is his advice about developing a gratitude practice.

Five steps for cultivating a gratitude practice

1.  Take stock — by counting our blessings.
2. Practice acts of kindness.
3. Practice positivity in all of our thoughts, words, and actions.
4. Awaken forgiveness — allowing forgiveness to enfold us in every moment.
5. Celebrate the blessings, savor life’s joys.

My heart is filled with the desire to be a better human when I contemplate these five steps. 

By counting our blessings, we realize how fortunate we are. Some days I may feel a bit down because of a disagreement with hubby. I may feel sorry for myself and dwell on our differences. When I tell myself — stop this nonsense and look at all the goodness in our relationship — my mood changes instantly from low to high. It’s almost miraculous.

If we make a habit of practicing kindness — not only would the recipient feel the love, we would, too.

As we know, kindness can be as minor as smiling at a stranger to an action a bit grander such as preparing and delivering dinner to an ill neighbor.

Sure, practicing positivity in ALL our thoughts, words, and actions may take a Herculean effort — but consider how joyful we would feel if we followed through with this one.

It’s easy to feel optimistic when things are going well. Not so simple when our day is challenging. Once again, reflecting on all that is good in our lives can shift our day into an uplifting one.

Awaken forgiveness. Hmm, you mean even for the horrible expletives my ex bellowed at me during our difficult years together? Yup. Forgiveness will erase, among other emotions, resentment and hostility from our hearts.

And, celebrating and savoring all the blessings and joys in our lives will fill us with gratitude. After all, we weren’t put on earth to suffer. We are here to learn and experience joy.

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Going deeper into the five realms in which to be grateful —  identify one aspect in each area to be thankful. 

• Physical body
• Emotional realm — all the emotions we have — for what am I grateful?
• Material realm — what of my possessions, treasures in my life am I thankful for?
• Relationships — what am I appreciative of in my relationships — a particular one or something that touches all of them?
• Spiritual realm — what in my connection to source, spirit, God do I have to be grateful? 

It can be so easy to take for granted that our body functions every day without even wondering how our hearts beat without our direction. Or that we have a kind, loving spouse or a cozy home to share with our loved ones. 

Suppose we follow the five steps and regularly identify an area in one of the five realms, acknowledging and being grateful for all we have. In that case, our lives and happiness will be profoundly affected.

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. — Melody Beattie, author of self-help books.

Let’s not forget how blessed we are — that we have another day. Not everyone gets one.