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January 7, 2021 By Amanda Kaiser

My Practice of Gratitude

One of the daily practices I enjoy most is mentally listing the things I’m grateful for. Every morning, afternoon, and evening (and sometimes in between), I think of three gratitudes. Most of the time, they are small things like, “I’m grateful for this delicious piece of chocolate” or ” for the sun on my face,” and sometimes things with much more gravitas sneak in there. Usually, I make my lists alone, and once in a while, my son and I take turns listing the things we are grateful for that day.

At the end of every week, I pull out my gratitude journal and write down three things that went well during the week and three things I’m grateful for overall. This has become a habit, and it feels like the week doesn’t end on the right note if I skip. A few people I know designate time in December or January to reflect upon the year, sum up what they are grateful for, and start looking toward the next year.

Now don’t get me wrong, this year has been tough in SOOO many ways. Some days I had to dig deep to come up with a single decent gratitude instead of spending my time lamenting all the would-haves, should-haves, and could-haves.

But this practice of gratitude is working. I believe that by habitually listing the things I’m grateful for, I’ve reduced my stress level, boosted my outlook, and opened my eyes to more opportunities.

Why am I talking about gratitude when I usually write about associations and member engagement? Because for many of us, our organizations are a part of us, and everything bit of self-insight enhances our business.

Interested in learning more about gratitude practices? Here’s a post about gratitude training from Tim Ferriss (who turned me on to this idea in the first place), or Brene Brown’s gratitude jar (would that work with your association staff?) or 8 more ideas for practicing gratitude from Forbes (find gratitude in your challenges seems especially apropos today).

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Filed Under: Association Leadership Tagged With: association leader, association leadership, association strategy, planning, strategic work

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