What an 8 weeks! Thank you for joining me on this journey. Below you will find all of our gratitude prompts, affirmations, and quotes for our challenge. Revisit them anytime! Let’s stay in touch! I am so happy that so many of you will continue to join on March’s grounded practice - of March is for Money Management! Over three weeks we’ll review our thoughts around money and receive practical practices to manage it effectively. I will share resources from money experts in my life as well as other resources I’ve enjoyed. Like this challenge, those that join us for the March challenge/practice will receive a digital money management journal! For more info on this, click here. But back to our gratitude. I am so, so grateful for you!! Sending you so much love!
We did it! Welcome to the final week of our gratitude challenge!
What an experience! I am so happy we took this challenge together and started 2023 with gratitude as our practice. A few things I have discovered through this process:
There is so much I am grateful for.
The world is filled with awe and beauty.
Gratitude does not take away from what we need to work on or things we would like to support the change of; it just helps us be in the moment and celebrate what we do feel grateful for and in awe of while we work towards that which we want to change
I am grateful for this community.
Enjoy this final week! I’m so thankful to you!
this week’s words, affirmations and prompts
Words, Prompts and Affirmations For Your Week
I love the “ah-has” you all are sharing through this practice, as well as how we’ve embodied it so fully into our day and moments. Thank you for inspiring me and for keeping me accountable in this journey. With two weeks left in our journaling challenge, I think it might be a keeper for me! My brain feels like its rewired to naming gratitude!
This week’s affirmation, prompts and words
For this week of love, share some love With yourself.
It’s Valentine’s week, and while I think this holiday is pretty commercialized and sets up crazy expectations for demonstrating love (I mean, I am way more for the calm, consistent, daily expressions of love than the big gestures.. but that’s just me). Either way, I love the idea of sharing LOVE. And gratitude is the perfect way to share love with yourself and others. This week’s quotes, affirmations, and words of inspiration following. I am grateful for you!
Gratitude Journal Prompts:
Recall a moment that made you feel inspired.
Recall a moment that made you feel alive.
Appreciate a moment of harmony, write down what happened and how it felt in your body.
Express gratitude for a moment of connection.
Write down something that made you feel safe.
Reflect on a moment that made you feel supported.
Identify a person who has encouraged you.
Gratitude Affirmations:
I am grateful for the joy of sharing my gifts with others.
I am grateful for the moments of stillness and peace.
I am grateful for the moments of clarity and insight.
I am thankful for the beauty of life, in all of it’s forms.
I am thankful for the power of positive thoughts and intentions.
I am thankful for the ability to forgive and move on.
I am grateful for the strength to overcome adversity.
Gratitude Quotes:
“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” - Eckhart Tolle
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” -Zig Ziglar
“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘Thank you’, that would suffice.” - Meister Eckhart
February Begins with Gratitude
We’ve made it to our second month of gratitude practice. I have found now that I like the prompts for reflection but gratitude itself comes easily. Especially after the week of awe, I’m reminded how much life amazes me! I remember when my daughter was little; she said that she thought, “G-d made the earth so that people could see how beautiful a star was when you get right up close to it” I find myself walking and thinking, “I’m standing sideways off a ball of matter that is traveling at crazy speeds around a star traveling at crazier speeds through the universe!” Life is wild! Here are this week’s prompts and affirmations. I am holding space and love for you. Thanks for being here!
Journal Prompts, Affirmations and Words of Inspiration for your week.
xx, Emily
This week's prompts, affirmations and words of inspiration
Week three, and we’re going strong! How is the journaling for you? I love the feedback you all are sending! I got this from one of our Gratitude Challenge participants who said I was welcome to share.
“I loved the awe walks last week. Both the report and the quote about getting more the more we’re grateful really resonated with me. It’s like the old addage, the more you give the more you get. I have definitely found this to be true and I am so grateful for this whole practice! Thank you!”
I am finding the same, thank you for sharing!
This week’s prompts, affirmations and quotes can be found below.
This week’s Gratitude Journal Prompts:
Reflect on a time you were lifted in love.
Identify a person who has believed in you.
Share a memory of a time you lifted someone in your love.
Reflect on a moment that made you feel accepted.
Think of a moment that made you feel creative.
Reflect on a quote that inspires you.
Write about who makes you laugh the most.
This week’s Gratitude Affirmations:
I am grateful for the kindness and compassion I receive.
I am thankful for the joy that comes from doing what I love.
I appreciate the little moments of happiness in my life.
I am grateful for the strength I have to overcome hard times.
I am thankful for the people in my life who support and care for me.
I am thankful for the ability to learn and grow each day.
I am grateful for the opportunities and knowledge I’ve gained.
This week’s Gratitude Quotes:
“Gratitude is the heart’s memory” - French Proverb
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling.” -Henry Van Dyke
“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.” - Anne Frank
“Gratitude is the most exquisite form of courtesy.” - Jacques Maritain
A week of Awe
We are at week two of our gratitude journaling. In addition to utilizing the prompts and inspiration below, I am working towards moments of AWE this week. I recently listened to a report on a study of people who went on walks daily in nature. [you can find an article on the study here] In the study, one group photographed something that inspired awe, while the other group just enjoyed their walk in nature. They also were directed to take a selfie following each of their walks. A remarkable realization was how the people documenting awe continued to find more and more to be in awe of. The other finding I loved was that in their selfies, they took up less of the selfie as the project went on. Their pictures started to include more of the nature around them. We are interconnected, and the awe we find in nature we can also see in ourselves. So this week, I’m on an awe hunt. I’d love to hear some of your awe-mazing finds too! Holding space for you!
Gratitude Journal Prompts, Affirmations, and Words to Inspire your Week.
Last week a few people also requested the prompts; affirmations and quotes to be typed directly into the blog post so they didn’t have to print or zoom in on the image. I’ll begin including them each week below the photos. These weeks are here:
Gratitude Journal Prompts:
Reflect on a connection that is special to you.
List the smallest thing you saw today that made you smile.
Write down something that brings you heart-bursting joy.
Close your eyes and think of what you are grateful for. What did you see?
Reflect on what you love most about yourself.
Write, or draw a picture, of how you feel being embraced by the person who makes you feel the safest.
Share a time that what felt like a failure became a lesson that propelled you into a better situation.
Gratitude Journal Affirmations:
I am grateful to have hands to reach out in need and in support
I am grateful.
I am grateful for the blessings shared today.
I am grateful for the people in my life who always greet me with a smile.
I am grateful for the sun’s warmth on my face.
I am grateful for all of the times I remember that it will be okay.
I am grateful for the moments I get to spend in nature.
Gratitude Quotes:
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy.” - Proust
“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” - Thorton Wilder
“Gratitude helps you to grow and expand” - Eileen Caddy
“Appreciation is a wonderful thing. It makes what is excellent in others, belong to us as well.” - Voltaire
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.” - Zig Ziglar
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.” - unknown
“Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all others.” -Cicero
An invitation
This week is the first formal week of gratitude prompts, affirmations, and quotes. My hope is that they inspire your practice.
JANUARY 15- JANUARY 21
Gratitude Journal Prompts, Gratitude Affirmations, and Words of Inspiration for your week.
Monday is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day in the United States. This is a day that my family uses for service and connection. It reminded me of a special event my family attended on a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day not long ago and the bond we all share together. As well as this favorite James Taylor song and this group that sang it.
Shed a Little Light Lyrics by James Taylor
Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
and recognize that there are ties between us, all men and women living on the Earth.
Ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood, that we are bound together
in our desire to see the world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong.
We are bound together by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead.
We are bound and we are bound.
There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest
Shed a little light, oh Lord, so that we can see, just a little light, oh Lord.
Wanna stand it on up, stand it on up, oh Lord,
wanna walk it on down, shed a little light, oh Lord.
Can't get no light from the dollar bill, don't give me no light from a TV screen.
When I open my eyes I wanna drink my fill from the well on the hill,
do you know what I mean?
Shed a little light, oh Lord, so that we can see, just a little light, oh Lord.
Wanna stand it on up, stand it on up, oh Lord,
wanna walk it on down, shed a little light, oh Lord.
There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist, there is a hunger in the center of the chest.
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
and though the body sleeps the heart will never rest.
Oh, Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
and recognize that there are ties between us.
All men and women living on the Earth, ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood.
Gratitude
This month’s Grounded Practice: GRATITUDE
For January and February GRATITUDE is the focus. Gratitude nourishes our body and mind while also connecting us to the positive flow of our life and connections. Numerous studies (I have linked a few below) highlight the benefits of focusing on things you are grateful for each day. I love this practice because it can be done anywhere at any time and takes hardly any time at all. For example you can commit to waking up and thinking of one thing you are grateful for, or you can spend time journaling gratitude. Both accomplish the connection and positive emotions that are supportive of our body and spirit. Sincere gratitude is the focus, this article from NPR highlights the many benefits of a gratitude practice. It also notes that at times individuals can struggle with finding gratitude and seeking it creates feelings of guilt and/or imitation. It is important to remember with all of the practices shared here, and with life in general, that each of us navigates our life in the way that best resonates with us and finding what truly brings us motivation, contentment and hope is the best practice. My hope is that some of these practices resonate with you and support you in finding peace and ease in your life. In lovingkindness, Emily @groundedpractice
A few articles highlighting the scientific benefits of gratitude:
Harvard Health: Giving Thanks Can Make You Happier
Greater Good | Berkley: How Gratitude Changes Your Brain
Research,com: 35 Scientific Benefits of Gratitude: Mental Health Research Findings
GROUNDED GRATITUDE | A MEDITATION
GROUNDED GRATITUDE | A MEDITATION
Sit on the earth and feel yourself connected to the ground. Breathe in and out three times deeply and gently close your eyes. Keep breathing and envision a golden g circling your abdomen and going down through you to the earth, collecting all the earth’s grounded nourishment for you while also distributing your golden gratitude back to it in thanks. At the same time picture a bright white light coming down through your head to the top of the g, and then down to the earth. As it moves all the way through you it comes back up around you, encompassing you like a bright white shell. Continue to sit and be wrapped in this glow of protection, sustenance, and nourishment; feel your connection to both below and above. Stay grounded in your gratitude for as long as you are able and/or feel the benefit in your body. When ready, take three more deep breaths, feel all the gold and white light pull within you, filling you with radiance, love and peace. Breathe in and feel this radiant love generate so much glow within your body that it creates a pressure to push out and release all that is not serving you. As you exhale, it exits, absorbed by the earth to be turned back into nourishment. Feel the g still yoking you to the earth bathed in your bright white light and burned clean. As you breathe in see the base of your g collecting all the nutrients of the earth needed in your body. Observe it spinning into a golden ball collecting and holding all the goodness of the earth within your sacral. Exhale in gratitude. As you breathe in and out anew, let this goodness radiate out to all of your cells. As you stand, and as you continue to place your feet to the earth, step slowly and intentionally with the knowledge of your symbiotic connection. In each step, you can practice and acknowledge this connection, this co-nourishment and existence. Relax into your grounded gratitude.
NOTE: If you are in a freezing cold, snow covered earth climate like I am, or anywhere where you do not have easy access to the earth, sit comfortably in your space and picture your g reaching through the space all the way to the earth below you and continue.