Welcome to day #3 of our Gratitude Challenge! Hopefully you successfully completed your first gratitude list yesterday and were pleasantly surprised by all that you're currently grateful for having in your life. I know that it's hard at first and may feel like work when you try to write down your list each day, but it will get easier. It takes a little bit of effort every day to form a habit, so keep up the good work!
What we're trying to do when we write down our list of things we are grateful for each day is to remind ourselves and force ourselves to think about gratitude throughout the day, so eventually the thoughts of gratitude become a daily habit; and become naturally the way you think.
Today's challenge doesn't involve any new writing, but you will do your second gratitude list. So, again, you'll write out 10 things that you are grateful for and why you are grateful for them. Same as yesterday. They can be some of the same things, but I'd like for you to try and think of some new things you are grateful for too.
Today your challenge is to pick a gratitude object. Your object can be anything. it can be a figurine, a rock, a marble, anything you'd like that you can easily set beside your bed. The purpose of this object is to serve as a reminder to you to do what I'm going to explain next!
When you pick out your object, place it beside your bed -- somewhere that you'll see it every night. Before you go to sleep, pick up your object and think back through your day. Think about all the good things that happened to you today and pick the best thing that happened to you today. When you think of the best thing that happened to you, say "thank you". That's it! Now you can put your gratitude object back and go to sleep.
Along with making your gratitude list, you'll practice thinking of the best thing that happened to you today before you go to bed each night during the next 26 days of the Gratitude Challenge.
The purpose of the gratitude object and thinking of the best thing that happened to you during your day is to force your mind to only think of positive thoughts by flowing through the positive experiences you had during your day, and not the negative ones. You'll go to bed happier and wake up happier as this becomes a daily habit.
So, as a reminder, here's your checklist on what you're challenge items are for today:
1. Make your gratitude list of 10 things. You can use the template I created for you again by downloading it here: Gratitude List Worksheet
2. Pick out a gratitude object and put it beside your bed.
3. Before you go to sleep tonight, hold your gratitude object and think of the best thing that happened today and say "thank you".
4. Looking ahead and prepping you for tomorrow's challenge... think about the 3 closest relationships you're most grateful for. It could be a sibling, father, mother, spouse, business partner, etc. Pick just 3 and find a photo of each person. Save these photos somewhere you can reference for tomorrow!