Okay, Okay, I Get It, I Need to Get Back into Gratitude!

Brenroy

Last week's episode of the podcast Nerdette included a chat with poet Ross Gay who released an essay collection called The Book of Delights. The book is exactly what the title says: he spent a year handwriting little essays to honour something that delighted him that day. Those essays are the book.

He spoke about how looking for delights every day really helped change his perspective on life.

Also on the episode was Dr. Y. Joel Wong, discussing the scientific backing for the power of gratitude to support your mental and physical health. Coincidentally, his summation of the research is exactly what I suggest in my book Feeling Better: A Field Guide to Liking Yourself: write it down (don't just think about it) and to keep it simple by committing to just noting three things a day, in point form.

In further gratitude-related prompting from the universe, my dad finally got to have an in-person visit with my grandma in her long-term care facility, where she has lived in near-total isolation for almost a year. He asked what she wanted to say to the family, and she said:

"Being thankful is the only thing."

She said we have to "touch it." (Again, this is from the woman who has been quite literally alone with her thoughts for the better part of 10 months.)

Over the past couple of years, my habit of gratitude journalling has wained--which is a nice way of saying I'm not doing it anymore, and whenever I've tried to start, I've had a really hard time re-introducing the habit.

Well, this is motivating me! I am going to get back at it, but! Since I obviously have struggled with making it happen, though, I need some extra accountability. Here it is: once a week I'll share a little roundup of the things that made me grateful that week.

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