Happy New Year! What is on your “thankful for” list at the start of 2024?
2023 concluded for me with a bang – I became a grandma! So far, a few days in, it is pretty great. As a dear friend who recently became a grandmother told me, being a grandparent is like “falling in love”. And she’s right. My heart is full of gratitude and love right now.
With all the new baby excitement I’ve not had time to consider any New Year’s resolutions. But that’s okay. As a rule I’m not crazy about them. I believe resolutions often set us up for failure, and end up reinforcing the very things we were wanting to change.
2024 – A Year of Gratitude?
I am excited, though, about what cultivating more gratitude in 2024 can do. Research shows that being thankful is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. In human energy terms, gratitude has a very high vibration. I don’t know about you, but I’m willing to sign up for more happiness and higher frequency vibration in my life!
Habits expert James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, tells us that letting go of old unhelpful habits and embracing new positive ones is not just about personal determination. It’s also about having an effective system and creating the right environment. Unwanted habits can be released and new ones adopted, Clear says, by focusing on small, achievable steps of how to “be 1% more” day by day.
As a result, I have been pondering ways to include small steps towards feeling and expressing more gratitude in my life in 2024. One simple way, experts say, to start feeling more gratitude (which equals more happiness, remember) is to list three things you are grateful for before getting out of bed in the morning.
A”Thankful For” List
Today my gratitude list would include:
- family
- the beautiful covering of snow outside
- the opportunity to connect with all of you
Listing three things one is grateful for can be as simple as thinking about them. Writing them down is another, more tangible option. I am a big fan of journaling. Rather than buying a new journal to help cultivate more gratitude in my daily routine in 2024, I have decided to use one I already own as my gratitude diary. I do appreciate the prompts and inspiration that journals specifically dedicated to gratitude offer, though. It helps me be mindful of what’s on my “thankful for” list more often.
Which got me thinking about creating some prompts and inspirations of my own. So I did. And, because I am grateful that you are part of the Climate of Joy community, I put it online to share with any of you wanting to up the happiness in your life. Click here to access the Start The Day With Gratitude journal.
Thank you for sharing my corner of the internet this past year. I’m wishing you showers of blessings and high vibrations this year!
