Today’s article is a guest post from my good friend Pip! I had planned to have this, and a couple other guest posts, all lined up for my cross country road trip (currently typing this out from Middle-of-Nowhere, Arizona), but then life happened and here I am scrambling to bring you lovely readers some mind candy with spotty internet in a hotel I’m preeeeetty sure a hooker may have at one time been killed in. 

I bugged Pip for this post since she has a tendency to always see life in a positive light. I love hearing her thoughts. (I stalk her on Twitter.) So when I needed some guest ramblings, I asked for her to share some advice with you lovely people and she was sweet enough to oblige. If you like what you read, check her blog out at This Hobbit’s Life (click here)!

Boosting Your Gratitude List

I’m not sure if it was Sarah Ban Breathnacht’s Simple Abundance book that first introduced us to the concept of a gratitude list, but I’m very sure that it was Oprah who made the idea go viral and an integral part of our culture.

Think gratitude, speak gratitude, act gratitude, and most important of all, write gratitude; on a daily basis we are inundated with the fact that we should write a daily list of 10 things you were thankful for, and so we did.

Thing is, do you remember when it was fun and exciting and meant something to you?  I think I do.  But now, if you’re like me, it’s more like this:

“Ok, 5 things (because 10 takes too much work these days)…nothing happened today…crappy day…grateful for what?…ugh, alright, let’s do this.  I’m grateful for…1…um…cheese…cheese?…What the…just leave it, move on…2: Twitter…cat, get off my paper!…3…OH!  The puppy didn’t pee in the house….4…oy, another one?…um…think…dandelions…5: that this list is done!!”

Sound familiar?  Has it become boring and more of a chore than an exercise in the ‘verse’s abundance?  Yeah, I know how you feel.

But after Gynji asked me to guest blog and gratitude as the subject came to mind, I wondered what I could bring to the table that was new, and an idea came to me that could change the way you approach your list.  Wonderfully, it’s something quite simple that involves the use of two little words, ‘why’ and ‘because’.

Check this out; I’m going to do that list again (except for #5).

I’m grateful for…

1: Cheese.  Why? Because…oh!  Because it added the perfect touch to that otherwise boring breakfast sandwich.  Sweet!

2: Twitter.  Why? Because there aren’t any memes and I love the tweets between Jewel Staite and Sean Maher.

3: -Well, this one seems obvious, right?  But let’s use those words anyway and see what happens: Why? Because not only was there nothing to clean up, but it means he’s almost housebroken and I taught him!  I rock!!

4: Dandelions.  Why? Because yellow flowers never fail to make me smile.  I should buy some for work!

See the difference?  The first list has no real thought or feeling put into it, and the second, using ‘why’ and ‘because’, requires you to think about why that particular thing causes you to feel grateful.  There was a reason it came to mind, you know. 🙂

So try it!  Let 5 things (start small – LOL ) pop into your head, and no matter how inane they might seem, write them down and then ask yourself “why?” and begin your answer with “because”.  I’ll bet you look forward to writing the list again… and you might even find yourself writing a list of 10 again! 😉

Pip is all about helping people! She spends her days doing what she loves – working as a healer and a sender of positive vibes. She blogs at This Hobbit’s Life, and touches on topics from goods books, Filofax, and personal ramblings (the best kind!) Pip is also a Hobbit and a Browncoat. (Nuff said!) Stop by her page (click here) and say hello!