Confession: I love reading self help books…
I’m not sure if it’s the stage of life I’m in. Or the stress that comes along with this work that’s got me looking outside of myself for insight. But, I’m all about learning new ways of looking at things right now.
This year, my favorite self-help books have been Braving the Wilderness by Brene Brown and Girl, Stop Apologizing by Rachel Hollis. Have you read either of these? I’m also a fan of Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations Podcast, but that’s a whole different conversation entirely…
Anyways, the experts say that gratitude, the act of noticing what’s good in the world, is one of the secrets to living a happy life. And since Greg and I are on a mission to build a happy and fulfilled life together at the farm, we wanted to give this a try.
So, we set out to practice gratitude every day and we started with something simple. Every night before bed, we started pulling out our journals and making a list of 10 things we’re grateful for.
Sometimes our lists have included things like the delicious dinner we shared with a friend that week. And other times, we’d surprise ourselves by digging so deep that we found gratitude for the more painful moments in life…the ones that forced us to grow and learn and adapt. No matter what, every night, we jot down 10 things we’re grateful for and let them settle into our minds before we fall sleep.
We’ve been doing it for over a month now and I have to tell you this. Those experts I mentioned? They’re right! We’re noticing more beauty and feeling more joy and observing more happiness than we ever have before. I kid you not…It’s been a game-changer for us both.
I won’t tell you that you should try making your own lists this week, because I know this activity is definitely NOT for everyone. But if you’re like us and have big hearts that are easily overwhelmed, you might find this practice helpful. In which case, you can totally try it and thank Brene or Oprah or Rachel when life starts twinkling a little more.
Your Farmers,
Jenney and Greg