The Little Things

There are many times throughout the day that we take things for granted.
It's not our faults, we just get to wrapped up in every day life that we tend to overlook the little things.

This week I want to talk about a few exercises that you can do that will bring to focus those things we miss.

Let's call them gratitude exercises.

Not only will it bring some positivity back into our lives, but it will remind us that we are not alone.
By reminding ourselves that good things to happen, it sheds light on the little things, the little blessings we encounter on a day to day basis.

The first activity you can do (you don't have to do all of them) is just journaling!

Pretty simple, right?

So every night before you go to bed, reflect on your day and write down around 5 good things that happened to you. They don't have to be big, in fact they can be as simple as having a conversation with your best friend on the phone. But just journal a few thoughts and how that made you feel before and after the good thing happened!

The second activity is to write a letter to someone you appreciate. It can be someone who has helped you recently, in the past, or someone who you see every day and just don't tell them how much they mean to you. Put some specifics in there about how they make you feel or how they make your life better. I know that they would love to hear from you and I know that by making them smile, you'll feel better yourself! Oh, and don't forget to actually give them the letter!

The third activity is to actually visit someone who means a lot to you. Now I know in this day and age we are all so busy that we don't have time to actually sit down and have a conversation with someone, but that's why it's on here. You have to make the time to sit and listen and appreciate someone's company. It's amazing how much we take for granted human interaction! It'll make you feel connected and loved after just talking to someone and laughing for 5 minutes.

The fourth activity is a really important one, in my opinion. It's just saying Thank you to people or to the world. By noticing the little things people do for you, the people getting your food, the traffic light not turning red so you can go, or the simple kindness of a stranger....by appreciating that and saying thank you for that, you are acknowledging the fact that it happened instead of thinking you deserve it or expect it to happen. Saying thank you is showing respect and gratitude and it's something we need to do more.

 The last one on the list is to take a gratitude walk. Now I know this one is a bit tricky because of our schedules and trust me, I'm one of the worst when it comes to this...but sometimes we just need to take a walk outside and notice the world around us. We need to break away from the electronics and go listen to the birds and guess the shapes of the clouds in the sky. It's easier said than done, I know. However, you'll feel more connected and in touch with yourself and everything around you.


Try one or a few of these this week and see how you feel! If anything, just take the time to be thankful for what you do have and notice the little things in life that are really little blessings in disguise!