The Gratitude Game

One of the most transformational practices you can have is a gratitude practice. While I have always been a fan, I have never gotten into it in the "popular" way.  The gratitude journal or carrying a rock and each time you touch it, remembering to be thankful.  Or, one I loved, but never found myself doing, each step after getting out of bed, say one thin you are grateful for.  These are all amazing ideas to remember gratitude, that I found myself never doing.  In true Amina-fashion, I created my own functional gratitude practice. 

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I have always considered myself a Gratitude Superstar!  Cognizant of complaining and blaming, being grateful for the big and small, and being generous.  However, on my amazing vacation to Greece, sitting on the beautiful island of Santorini, I found myself unhappy, funk-full, complaining and a far cry from grateful.  I was so ashamed.  I tried to shake it.  I reminded myself sitting where I am is on people's bucket list!  I tried to pep talk my way out of it.  I tried saying something I was grateful for with each step, which only frustrated me more.  Nothing worked until I did my tried and true gratitude practice.

I heard that on an island, not too far from us, there were Syrian refugees in a refugee camp. I started to think about their experience and what they had suffered and endured.  And, well, that pretty much did it.  From their, I started to think of what I had and what good can I do with what I have.  Funk gone.  Complaining history.  Joy and gratitude abound.  I have found that the single best cure for the funk is being of service to another. When you think of your life as what you have and what you can give, your entire perspective shifts.  There are people all over the world who have so much less than I do and are still turning around and helping someone else, with the tiny, little bit they have.  We call these people Heros and Saints, and while I agree, I have also come to learn, that this practice is for their own mental salvation.  It is easy to get caught up in the day to day, what is and is not working, and sometimes, remembering that what you do have, regardless of how you feel about it at the moment, is a blessing to another, can turn that "not enough" thought into "richest person on earth" thought.  

I realized that day, that I do need a Gratitude Reboot.  It has been a habit, but clearly one, I let slide a bit.  That is why I pulled out Pam Grout's Thank and Grow Rich, with her 27 gratitude practices.  I like these, because they are different every day.  For me a new practice to try daily makes it fun and like a gratitude game.  For this month, you can join me in the Gratitude Game in my free Facebook Group, Adventures with Amina or by downloading my Gratitude Practice Program!  I made it free this month, because, well, I am grateful you are here and part of my life and my community!