It's November and we're putting on our Attitude of Gratitude hat! Our theme this month is empowering you through gratitude, and our mantra this week? I find strength and joy in gratitude. But wait! You may be saying, why do I want to give gratitude and where do I even start with this whole gratitude thing? In our mission to empower you to believe in yourself and all you can do (and smell good while doing it) we're here to help you with all those things!
Why Give Gratitude
There have been some incredible studies showing that the human brain and a person's emotional state react in positive ways when giving (and receiving) gratitude. If you can believe it, when you give gratitude or when you get gratitude, your brain gets a dopamine AND a serotonin hit, two important chemicals that help regulate your mood and emotions and guess what? Both of these neurotransmitters make the body feel good! What's more, when you express gratitude regularly and employ a grateful outlook on life, you can create a permanent home for yourself in that positive, happier place—which means you will find strength in yourself because when you are feeling negative emotions or facing hard times you won't crumble—the gratitude you have practiced will fortify you and help you withstand and get through the difficult times.
Now that we know why to practice gratitude, let's find out two ways to do it.
Create A Gratitude Journal
Spritz on your Infinite Collection fragrance and let's get the dopamine and serotonin flowing! A gratitude journal is exactly what it sounds like—a journal where you write down things you are grateful for. The trick is to do it on a regular basis to get all the benefits of practicing gratitude. What are things to be grateful for? Well, you can be grateful for absolutely everything and anything! Some big things you may be grateful for are being in good physical health or getting home safely when you have a flat tire. You can also be grateful for little things like sunshine after a rainstorm or hearing your favorite song on the radio. Coming up with things to be grateful for may take some conscious effort to begin with, but once you've got the hang of it a daily gratitude practice becomes very easy to keep up. In fact, to help get you going, we've got this free daily gratitude practice journal for you.
Write a Gratitude Letter
We're still smelling great and now we're feeling great . . . but how about making others feel great too? It's not just in the receiving that we get a blast of positive emotions, but also in the giving. A letter of gratitude to a dear friend, loved one, or even just an acquaintance that you want to show appreciation to will make you feel great, and it will make the received feel great too! It might feel intimidating to write a note to someone, but it can be very simple—something like "Thank you for . . . " or "I want to express my gratitude to you for . . . " and then let them know what fabulous things, be they small things or big things, they have done that has brought you joy or less stress or just even made you smile, basically things you are grateful for!
Hello, Happy Life
OK, so we're not saying life won't be full of trials and tribulations when you take on a daily practice of gratitude, but we are saying that when you see life through the lens of gratitude you begin to evolve your mindset to view things in a more positive way, welcoming in less strife and more joy, less negativity and more positivity, and finding that within you resides the strength to conquer whatever difficulties life may bring your way with calm and grace, which definitely makes life a bit happier!
So, this week we say on repeat "I find strength and joy in gratitude" and welcome in all the positive vibes that follow!