Gratitude is powerful
As a tool to encourage mindfulness, gratitude is very powerful. I’ve been immersing myself more and more on the research that already has been done and is on-going in all the ways that we can “creatively” heal and build a creative mindfulness practice.
I feel like at a very basic level, gratitude comes up as an easy way to engage in this kind of mindfulness. You often hear people recommend a gratitude journal. Here are some fun facts about regularly practicing gratitude:
It mitigates stress - Studies done during the pandemic showed that, even in the face of a worldwide psychological stressor, practicing gratitude reduced stress and improved mood.
It decreases depression and increases self-esteem - A study of 1,000 high school students found that a daily gratitude practice helped to foster greater life satisfaction and motivation - especially when correlated to negative symptoms experienced with social media use. (Let’s be honest, we know teens are not the only ones negatively affected by social media…) And there was a direct link between gratitude and decreased suicide risk in college students.
Those are pretty powerful facts! Throughout our lives we can greatly benefit from fostering a gratitude practice.
After I finished all my chemo treatments back in 2016, my first “creative” gratitude practice that I incorporated was doing a 365 Photography Challenge. I have loved photography since I was a teen and I felt that if I took a photo a day, it would help me to see the world again. I didn’t know when I started that it would turn into a gratitude practice but that is how it evolved over the days, weeks and months of undertaking this challenge. Every day, I looked for something to photograph and I noticed a subtle shift inside of me. I was no longer just seeing the world through the lens of cancer, I was starting to notice details all around me and it made me so grateful to be alive. It was a transformational experience.
I just recently did a 31 day challenge in March and again noticed that same shift. If I’m honest, some days it didn’t feel magical, some days I “made/forced” myself to look and notice the world around me. But I think that’s the truth with all “practices”. You can ebb and flow between loving and dreading what you commit yourself to. Most days, though, it did end up feeling like a joyful experience. There were days I would wake up thinking about what I would photograph and that started my day with curiosity and expectation of discovering and seeing something that would spark a little creativity.
I’ve posted my challenges to Instagram because I have needed some kind of accountability but I’m now starting a Gratitude Photo Album on my phone that’s just for me. I read a suggestion to not only add photos but also a screenshot of a meaningful text/email exchange, and that seems like a lovely way to commemorate the every day.
Here are some of the photos I took in March!
