Gratitude and contentment go hand in hand. You can’t have one without the other.

Having a gratitude practice is appreciating all of your experiences and the lessons wrapped up in each one. It’s also recognizing what you have right now that is good in your life, that makes you smile and brings you joy.

When we are grateful for the small things like having our most basic needs met, everything else is gravy. When we acknowledge we’re fortunate for having shelter, clothing, food + water when so many struggle every day to survive, we see things from a different perspective. With this in mind, we stop wishing for what we don’t have or what we don’t necessarily need to exist comfortably.

When we come from a place of gratitude, we welcome the challenges, lessons, and joys we’re experiencing each day. We accept them as they are vs. trying to force something into existence or bend someone towards our will. We surrender to what is. This takes trust, courage, and confidence in yourself to be resourceful and resilient against life’s curveballs. You can do it! I believe in you.

When we slow down enough to witness the small packages of joy that exist all around us, we start to notice more of them. Those small bundles are everywhere, we just have to be woke enough to see them. It’s the laughter of a child, the neigh of a horse, the whizzing of a hummingbird, the smell of fall, the taste of a freshly baked pie, the voice of your best friend, a hug from a family member. Notice those moments. Place your focus there, and appreciate them, be grateful for them. And know there’s more where that came from.

We’ve all heard that we should practice gratitude but we’re not necessarily shown how or why. In Love Thyself, First + Always, I give you a few techniques for cultivating gratitude every day, which lends itself to feeling happier. We all want that don’t we?

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