Intentional gratitude and why it helps

Most of us know, and feel, that gratitude is a beautiful and supportive thing.  But I wonder how many of us truly practice gratitude in a way that more deeply benefits ourselves, and others - our whole energy and our collective vibration. In these times especially, I know that gratitude is a powerful thing, and especially what I love to practice, which is intentional gratitude.  Let me share a little about what this is and means, and I'd love to encourage you to practice this too and see how it feels for you, in every part of your life.  

I've had many people say to me that gratitude is difficult in uncertain or more challenging times.  Many clients who've come to me for support through some really hard times, and gratitude feels impossible.  I really understand this.  I know through times in my life, which have felt so uncertain, that gratitude wasn't something I always found easy, or even comforting to do.  But where I am now, and how I feel now, gratitude has been a huge part of supporting me, and continually changes how I see and am with everything, in a  more calm, more hopeful, optimistic and uplifting way.  

Practicing gratitude changes our energy, lifts our mood, reminds us of what always, truly matters, the simple but important things - and even on hard days or through difficult times - I know that gratitude is needed and even more supportive to do when we feel this way.  

I love my daily and consistent practice of gratitude writing.  Practicing, writing and sometimes expressing out loud, my gratitude for moments, things, people, and more - in a really intentional way.  And by that, I mean, not just saying 'I'm grateful for my home',  as an example, but being more intentional with that, and going deeper.  Expressing all the details of why I'm grateful for my home, what it means to me, what it brings for me, how it uplifts me, how it supports me, the ways I feel grateful to be sitting in my home right now, today - the whole experience of feeling and embracing this gratitude, in a meaningful and fulfilling way.  The energy this brings is so powerful.  

I might express my gratitude for someone, in this intentional and expressive way.  As I wrote yesterday, feeling grateful for a friend, I wrote 'I'm grateful for X and how natural our friendship feels, that I always know I can completely be myself with her, and feel at ease.  I am so grateful for our honest conversations that always leave me feeling supported, understood and nourished.  I feel so grateful knowing her, because she is so easy to talk to, she feels like sunshine, and she makes me feel warm inside. I'm grateful for her, and our friendship that reminds me that it's precious to have these beautiful connections, and to not take these for granted, in times when so many can feel alone.  I'm grateful that I can depend on her, and know she's always there'.  

I wonder, is there someone or people, you feel grateful for - a friend, partner, children, mother, father, colleague - even a stranger you met today, or someone who smiled at you and just made that small but beautiful change to your day.  Express your gratitude for them in this intentional way - why you're grateful, what they mean to you, how something about them makes you feel, and more.   

I practice intentional gratitude each day - sometimes in the morning, and often at night, as a way to close the day.  I love going to bed, on a good or a bad day, with a feeling of gratitude in my heart.  It allows me to always intentionally notice and be aware of all that I have, all that is available to me, all that is precious, all that may be simple but so important - to not focus on the things that perhaps aren't going so well, but to focus on what is, and to deepen my appreciation and gratitude for this. 

This intentional practice deepens, enriches and enhances our feeling of gratitude by practicing and expressing the fullness of it all, in this way.  And I believe, it shifts our energy even more so, and raises our vibration even higher.  It changes us, and it has a beautiful flow on effect with how are we, and everything we do, and all that we connect with too.  Gratitude allows to be more open within ourselves and to be with more presence, calm and ease within this ever changing life.  

I'd love to hear and know how gratitude feels and means for you.  And if you don't have an intentional practice, then perhaps today is the perfect time to begin.   

With love x 
Katie 

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