Gratitude practices are a lot more than listing out things you are grateful for. While that's definitely a start, the gratitude practices that scientists measure are often a little more detailed than that. So if you haven't been getting the results or it feels like they have become apathetic, here's why.

First the example with my original practice:

I wrote down x number of things I was grateful for each day. It was pretty easy for many days - there is a lot to be grateful for after all. However, then I ran into several red flags that told me something was wrong.

1.  It started to feel like an item to check off my list of things to do so…
2. I was less excited about it
3. I got a lot less benefit from it
4. I started self-shaming myself into doing it or for not being grateful enough

Any of this sound familiar?

It's natural if we aren't actually connecting with gratitude and all the FEELINGS connected to it.

Listen to these 11 minutes to see if you can shift your gratitude to:

Embrace Gratitude (how we really feel it)

Acting on Gratitude (how we honor it & ourselves)

Expanding Gratitude (how we create more to be grateful for)

 

It's just over 10 minutes so you can take a break. Then gratitude practice can be incorporated into what you already do - just listen and I'll tell you how.