TL;DR:
- Practice gratitude on a daily basis by seeing the glass half full, taking in the small joys around you, and incorporating mindfulness into your routine.
- Use your 5 senses to reflect on what you are grateful for.
- Keep a gratitude token as a reminder to practice gratitude daily.
Here in the U.S. we have Thanksgiving coming up on the 4th Thursday of November. This holiday gives us a chance to think about what we’re grateful for. I suggest we not only use the time around Thanksgiving to practice gratitude, but practice gratitude all year long.
Practicing Gratitude: Think of the Glass Half Full Instead of Half Empty
When was the last time you put a gratitude journal or naming three things you’re grateful into your daily practice? During times of stress and discouragement, it can be difficult to come up with three things we’re grateful for every day. Often, educators focus too much on the negative and don’t see the glass half full.
Keeping a gratitude token can be used as a helpful reminder to practice daily gratitude. Click To TweetPracticing Gratitude: Take in the Small Joys Around You
If you take the time to look around you and see the small joys in life, it’s easy to come up with things you can be grateful for. The color of fall leaves, the joy on kids’ faces as they return from Halloween trick-or-treating, and the anticipation of the plans you may have for the holidays.
When you step outside your school or home office for a break, you can take in the wonders of the things that you see every day, such as a bird nest in a tree or a school garden on the side of the building. Perhaps a beautiful sunrise as you drive into work in the morning. Walking around the inside of your building, you can find many things to be grateful for: students fully back in the building, the return of staples of past school years such as concerts, plays, and in-person parent-teacher conferences, and the interactions among peer groups you witness in the hallways.
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Practicing Gratitude: Mindfulness
Incorporating mindfulness will help you develop more gratitude in your daily life. Mindfulness doesn’t necessarily have to be doing a 10 minute morning meditation. It could be taking a mindful walk, eating mindfully, or having a few moments of silence during your plan period or lunch break where you don’t look at your phone or computer and just unplug.
Use Your 5 Senses
If you’re having trouble coming up with what you’re grateful for, cynspo.com suggests trying the 5-4-3-2-1 technique:
Identify 5 things you can see
List 4 things you can touch around you
Think of 3 things you can hear
Name 2 two things you can smell
Recall 1 thing you can taste
Remember, positive thinking isn’t the opposite of negative thinking, but practicing gratitude is. Stop busying your mind with thoughts of what you lack; instead, express appreciation for the things you have and the people around you. When did you last say “thank you” to someone you appreciate?
Keep a Token in Your Pocket or Nearby to Remind You to be Grateful
Keeping a gratitude token can be used as a helpful reminder to practice daily gratitude. It could be a smooth rock, a coin, or a notecard you keep near your computer.
Let’s keep the gratitude practice going all year and not just take November to remember what we’re grateful for. Tweet me @danagoodier with ways you have incorporated daily gratitude into your life!
See the full “Whoa-vember: A Month to Celebrate” blog series here!
About Dana Goodier
Dr. Dana Goodier has 20 years of experience in education. She has taught World Languages and English and worked as a middle school administrator. She completed her doctorate degree (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership early 2020. For her dissertation, she researched reasons parents were opting their students out of high-stakes testing at middle schools and how that affected the district accreditation rating. She often speaks at conferences, providing educators with techniques to minimize off-task behavior and to increase time on task. She is the host of the “Out of the Trenches” podcast, which features educators who share their stories of resiliency. Follow her on Twitter @danagoodier and visit her website at: www.danagoodier.com
