End Your Year with Gratitude

As we spend time in these final days of 2019 and say goodbye to this decade, I find myself jumping at the chance to dive in to a new year. My first instinct is to set out my goals, plan what I want to accomplish, and how I want the next 10 years to look. But before doing that, I have decided to first spend some time in gratitude.

If you read my last post, you'll know that I shared some of the ways to practice gratitude over the holiday season. Gratitude helps us appreciate the life we lead and turns the mundane into the brilliant and breathtaking. It increases our wellbeing, happiness, energy, optimism, and even empathy. So as I look in to 2020, here are a few exercises that I will be doing to practice gratitude.

Feel the feels

It's easy to say thank you, list the things you are grateful for, and move on. But what really helps is to sit in the feeling. Really allow yourself to feel everything deeply.

Sit in quiet stillness and think back over the past year (or the past decade!) and remember the moments that you feel grateful for and appreciate. It could be times when someone went out of their way to do something for you that made a difference or it could just be an experience or memory that you feel a deep appreciation for. Take a moment to feel the flow of gratitude and to send that out to anyone in your life.

Write it down

In your journal (or on any piece of paper), write your answers to the following questions:

What are you most grateful for this year?
What are five things that you are grateful for this year?
Who is the person you are most grateful for?
Who are three other people that you appreciate?
What did you do for other people this year?
What things do you feel most blessed to have in your life right now?

Share the good vibes

If you have a team or a group of coworkers, try this exercise. Or, gather your friends and/or family and try it with them! Focus on one person at a time and have everyone in the room tell them exactly why they are grateful for them. Be specific! How have they impacted your lives? How have they made a difference? Why are you grateful for them?

My goal and intention with these exercises is to allow gratitude to flow and thank all of the people in my life (both personally and professionally) as well as remember the forgotten moments that have contributed to this year. Remember, with gratitude comes abundance and love. With gratitude, you are a magnet for happiness, love, and abundance.

Cheers to 2020!