Today, I want to talk to you about gratitude.

But not the way we usually hear about it. The usual technique of "listing 3 things every day that you're grateful for" doesn't work for very long, in my experience.

When you get to day 12 and realise it's the 3rd time you've written down "coffee, sunshine, and my cat," you start to wonder what's the point of it all.

(And you? How long did you last with this method?)

The intention is good. Gratitude is a practice that's really worth it. The effects of a regular gratitude practice are pretty amazing: improved mood, self-esteem, physical health, sleep, stress resilience, etc.

But how do you practice it effectively?

I suggest you try one or more of these techniques that I use regularly:

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"These are the good days"

I have this reminder constantly displayed on my phone screen.

It invites me to pause regularly throughout my day to become aware that I will one day be nostalgic for the moments I'm living now. One day, I'll think about this period of my life and say "Those were the good old days." But the good times don't only exist in the past, we can live them fully today.

And when you take a micro-moment several times during your day to take a deep breath and soak in this awareness... game changer :)

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Now that you know how to anchor gratitude in the present moment, here's how to cultivate it for tomorrow...

The perfect day exercise

Have you ever taken the time to ask yourself what elements you need to live a perfect day? Personally, when I experience one, I like to write it down in my journal in the evening.

I realised, and it will probably be your case too, that the ingredients are nothing extraordinary, nothing inaccessible most of the time. For me, to go to bed fully satisfied, I need to have achieved a good balance between productivity and rest. To have done a little exercise, a little study, a little chill time and a little connection with someone I love.

Once you become aware of this, you can intentionally create perfect days much more often. And go to bed full of gratitude for the simple joys that are possible for us to experience.

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These first two techniques cultivate gratitude for what surrounds us. But there's a form of gratitude we often forget, and which becomes essential: gratitude toward our own body.

Super-Savasana

We're often very critical of our body: its appearance, its little aches, what seems to decline with age.

I find that the best time to reverse this tendency is during Savasana (the final relaxation in yoga). We've just moved, we're relaxed, in a perfect introspective mood.

The exercise is to take a moment to appreciate everything that's going well in your body. Everything that doesn't hurt. All the systems that are functioning perfectly right now.

The more I study anatomy, the more I realize how miraculous it is that so many things work well, simultaneously, in our body. So rather than constantly highlighting what's imperfect in your body, I invite you to regularly take a moment to appreciate everything it does well, and everything it allows you to accomplish daily.

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I hope these practices do you as much good as they do me.

This week, choose ONE of these 3 techniques and test it for 7 days. Then write to me about your experience. I read and respond to all your messages!

Om, peace 🧡

Clem