The Practice Of Gratitude

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

—Colossians 4:2

I absolutely believe that gratitude is a way of life, a practice as opposed to a feeling, and I want to be the kind of person who chooses to be grateful for what is instead of angry about what isn’t.

When I’m feeling stressed or pressed or crazy-brained, I’m learning to take a little mental time-out to practice gratitude. What seems like a monumental catastrophe melts down into minor annoyance in the face of the things I’m thankful for: health, family, sunshine.

I had a few little things shake loose this afternoon—nothing big, just enough to get me feeling a little rattled and breathless, shoulders scrunched up by my ears. I had less than an hour to work, and I didn’t want to end my workday all icky and stressed.

So I practiced gratitude: I made a list of the little and big things I’m thankful for right now, and that list, one after another after another, rose up to face my little stresses and problems, and it forced them to back down a little, to recede into the middle distance, where they can’t get to me anymore.