Four years ago, I picked up a book with a pretty cover from this tiny bookstore in Vellore. Little did I know that this book- “One thousand gifts” would become my How-to-practice-gratitude handbook, and that I would keep going back to it when i forgot.

The antidote to despair is gratitude. When I find myself sinking into misery over simple things like the sun being too hot when I step out or having to maintain calm when Achu is having his 8th meltdown of the day, all I can do is atleast try to remember how good I’ve got it.

When you focus your attention on one good thing ( like how deliciously soft the bedding feels when you curl your toes into it at night), at that one moment your mind can only focus on the one good feeling it brings. And directing your attention to this small but precious gift can help shift the state of your mind to a better plane.

I didn’t have a clear picture of how to practice gratitude in my every day life.
Should I be writing down three things I was thankful for everyday/
Keep a gratitude journal/
Download an app to help/
Talk to a friend?
Or maybe a little bit of everything?
As I love creating a wordstring of my own, I thought maybe writing down positive self talk could help.
And it did help.
But every now and then, some teeny frustration would cause me to go down a spiral of negativity.
At those times, my thoughts were coloured with a sullen shade of gloom. And I couldn’t think as normally and positively as I otherwise could.
Though happy thoughts do not, by themselves visit an unhappy mind, it is the unhappy mind that needs these thoughts the most.

Willfully bringing into focus that one thought of gratitude when the opposite feels true is a monumental task.And yet,it is something we must undertake if we need to thrive.

Life is hard.Period.
And sometimes we have to become our own hero, our own best friend.
Even if it just means taking out a notepad  and jotting down that one thing that made you smile today.