How gratitude can help you embody joy

Gratitude. A word i feel i overuse and that induces many an eyeroll (by myself included on occasions). But the practice of acknowledging what you have to be grateful for is a powerful one. Tara Brach mentions it as a tool in practicing how we can embody joy in one of her recent talks. Sidenote: if you don’t already subscribe to her talks i am worried how often i’ve highly recommended it over the years- do yourself a massive favour and check them out via her site here - you can also get them via youtube or itunes etc).

Joy can seem elusive yet it’s the thing so many of us are chasing. When we aren’t in a state of euphoria or happiness, we can feel like something is wrong with us. Like there’s something lacking. We’re incomplete. But it’s quite the contrary. The spectrum of feels, happy, not so happy, and the spectrum all around and in between is very much a part of life.

Think a recent episode of Queer Eye had it down ::::

So. Gratitude. Can offer us an opportunity to practice of opening up to something else. A kind of marinating in the joy of little things. Or at the very least, some perspective in the times that might be feeling less pleasant. It reminds us of the cycles. The moments. And i think, the important stuff that might get left behind when we get swept up in this thing called life.

At the moment i’m enjoying logging my gratitude in my morning pages (won't stop talking about them, sorry) but i’m also interested in the idea of a gratitude partner. A setup where you simply email someone your three or more things each day. No fuss or pleasantries, just the guts and meat of it. So, we could start something here, right? Like in the comments? Want to tell me what you’re grateful for right now?

I’ll start.

1 Real people. Good people. Friends and family (i got greedy with this, sorry)

2 The cat that i see outside my window every day and the pleasure i feel for the way his little chub nestles around him as he sits/squats down.

3  this Prince gif

Here’s a playlist to wet your whistle!

Hit me up below and tell me what you’re grateful for! (please)

Love.

Dionne x