This special message was contributed by Erin Cummings, founder of YESyoga.
Your kids are out of school, you’re trying to plan a trip for the holiday or host the holiday, you can’t seem to find time for yourself, you told one kid to pick up that toy three times, and finally….OUCH, you step on it. Then, here she comes, the crazy screaming lady bursts out of you, only for you to be left feeling empty, and all you wanted to do was finish that one thing so you could take a shower.
Then, your local yoga studio is over here, like hi, pick three things you’re grateful for.
Here’s the thing, gratitude is a choice, and if you can’t choose gratitude during the most “gratitude-ious” time of year, when are you going to choose it?
It’s no secret that choosing gratitude is the hardest choice to make sometimes. I don’t know about you but those tiny little humans move through their emotions quickly, and it takes me a lot longer to calm down. That moment right there is what I’m talking about. It’s that moment when your child has moved on, but you are still hot from anger about them not listening to you. Now is when you bring in the choice of gratitude.
If you don’t practice gratitude in the easy moments of life, choosing gratitude in hard moments will be like trying to run a marathon you didn’t train for.
Remind yourself of this, you are allowed to be frustrated at your kids and also be grateful for them. It’s not an either/or situation. Those little tiny people can be seriously unreasonable, but remember they are learning reason, boundaries, and where to push the limits. If all else fails, be grateful you get to be the one who teaches them those lessons and the lesson of gratitude.
So why is practicing gratitude so important, and what can it actually do?
The practice of gratitude has actually been scientifically proven to create resilience in the brain and it can positively transform the family unit.
It’s easy to wake up and be mad and make everyone else around you mad, it’s so much easier to stay mad and scroll through your phone instead of play with your kid. Start choosing gratitude and eventually that hard choice will become easier and easier each time.
Remember, when your kid only eats a biscuit after you have stressed out for four days about cooking Thanksgiving dinner, be grateful for all you accomplished.
You are doing the best you can. If you need a mantra for your upcoming week a super easy one to remember gratitude, it is this:
I AM GRATEFUL.
Inhale in through your nose and say to yourself, “I am.” Then exhale through your mouth and say to yourself “grateful.”