The first step in a mindful gratitude practice is to show some love to your childhood self. See how I do it. And then check out the list 5 things to be grateful for and my Mindful Gratitude Practice video.
This is me, Angie, at about 8 or 9 years old.
?She is happy.
?She is comfortable in her own skin, sometimes.
?She is talkative.
?She loves to run.
?She really likes to laugh.
?She loves the color purple.
That is who I am, at my best, as an adult too. And it all started with this little doe eyed, bowl cut, spunky little thing in this picture. – Thanks Kid!
Power of 5 Gratitude Practice
One of my favorite gratitude practices, affectionately named the Power of 5, includes showing gratitude through mindful intention of 5 different people in your life.
1. Gratitude for someone who brings you joy
2. Gratitude for someone you bring joy to
3. Gratitude for your childhood self
4. Gratitude for someone of service in your life
5. Gratitude for someone who you have lost along the way
Thank you science!
Over recent years, researchers are exploring how and why people who show gratitude daily fair happier when encountering adversity. For one such study, a team of researchers out of Indiana University led by Prathik Kini recruited 43 subjects suffering from anxiety or depression. Half of this group were assigned a simple gratitude exercise — writing letters of thanks to people in their lives — and three months later all 43 underwent brain scans.
During these brain scans the subjects participated in a gratitude task in which they were told a benefactor had given them a sum of money and were asked whether they’d like to donate a portion of the funds to charity as an expression of their gratitude.
“The participants who’d completed the gratitude task months earlier not only reported feeling more gratefulness two weeks after the task than members of the control group, but also, months later, showed more gratitude-related brain activity in the scanner. The researchers described these ‘profound’ and ‘long-lasting’ neural effects as ‘particularly noteworthy,'” psychology writer Christian Jarrett.
Christian Jarrett explains on the Science of Us blog.
Practice the Power of 5 with Angie
Take some time and show some love to your childhood self. Give them a virtual hug. Your adult self needs it❤️? Watch this video of a Mindful Gratitude Practice.
