Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realise they were the big things.

– Robert Brault

After a long day of trying to keep your head up and survive, it can be hard to remember the good little things that happened during the day. It can be even harder when every day feels the same. 

Each night I write in my daily health diary (read more about it in my blog post called My Biggest Game Changer: A Health Diary). Writing about your medical symptoms, your medications, and notes from your appointments can get pretty heavy and exhausting – not matter how beneficial keeping a record is! 

To make this process lighter, I follow it up with a daily gratitude practice. I turn the heavy dull feelings away and focus on something in my day that brought me joy, or I noticed was beautiful, or something I was thankful for. I am rather sentimental about writing down the good things to read back over later on, so I keep a simple journal and note down as many things I can think of. Some days I can fill a page and a half, and other days it’s a struggle to think of anything, but I make sure there are always three good things. Having a minimum number of things to write down means that every day I have to write down something and I don’t miss a day and drop the habit. 

Just like my photo a day challenge that I wrote about in this blog post The Daily Project That Sustained Me During My Most Difficult Year, having something to look for or look forward to each day can be very beneficial if you are constantly distracted by pain and medical conditions.  

This practice means that I am looking out for good things that happen during the day that I can write in my journal. It means that when I do notice or experience something good that I will be excited to write it in my journal later, knowing that the remembrance of that moment will bring me a second boost of joy. 

The thing with gratitude practices is that there are so many ways and suggestions on how to do it. Maybe you each say something that brought you joy today when you sit down to dinner with your family, or think of what you are grateful for when you wake up or go to bed each day. It doesn’t have to be writing in a journal; it can be however you want, what matters is the practice. 

I hate ending the day feeling exhausted and heavy, and gratitude becomes a giant exhale for the day. Get the bad stuff out of the way, and let’s focus on the good things and lighten the load. 

This practice is how I end my day on a good note. 

When we focus on our gratitude, the tide of disappointment goes out and the tide of love rushes in.

– Kristin Armstrong

Next week, I’ll be talking more about my daily practices including gratitude, so make sure you check back to read it. 

Take heart and try gratitude, Readers. I’ll keep the light on.

---