Gratitude

According to positive psychology research, the practice that most contributes to our well-being is daily gratitude. And what is gratitude?

Gratitude is, simply, noticing that our needs have been met

We constantly have needs being met without even noticing it. How often do you take the time to actually notice and appreciate the air that you breathe, the water you drink, the pleasant casual interaction with someone at the shops that meets a need for being seen?

It’s not your fault, it’s just the way we are – our brains have an inbuilt negativity bias, because they evolved to keep us alive in times of much greater physical danger, when noticing the danger was essential for survival. So to be happier, we can choose to have an intentional practice of noticing the positive.

So here’s a deeply nourishing gratitude practice I recommend.

Each day, take time to read through the needs list, and notice or write down the ones that have been in met in the last 24 hours, and (if you have time) how.

Of course, our inherently negative brains will also notice any that aren’t met!! So, if any jump out at you as being deeply unmet, try this meditation.

Then, make the intention to find a way to meet that need in the next 24 hours, even in just in some tiny way. Anything that tops up a bone-dry needs tank is fabulous.

Of course, you can just do this with pen and paper, and a needs list … but I’ve also built an interactive tool for you to do this process, with clickable needs words, just for fun 🙂 Check it out here.

Thoughts? Leave me a comment – I’d love to hear from you!

3 thoughts on “Gratitude”

  1. Julie, this was so fabulous for me today – I was really struggling with some unmet needs and you helped me so much to sit with that and process it and move forward. I love love love your interactive tool as well!

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