EVERY STEP COUNTS: Be thankful

By Chris Hunt, the Fundamental Coach

It’s July, it’s our first article of the month and I am buzzing.

I love July every year, it’s the middle of the year and it’s also when the school summer holidays start.

Yes, you are right, I am one of those parents that loves the kids being off.

Sure, it can be a bit more manic and can involve a few more glorified taxi driver moments but the fact you get to see your kids more is just awesome.

We will see if I am still saying that come September though, OK?

Anyway, enough of my rambling, let’s get straight to the priming and affirmations.

FROM THE CHAMBER: The reason for road closures in Wokingham

Enjoy a charity coffee event in Wokingham

Today I am going to alternate five affirmations with five priming optimism sentences just to mix it all up and get you hyper ready for the article ahead:

I believe in my skills and abilities.
Be YOU this week but be the best version of YOU.
I am a winner.
Be YOU this week and don’t be scared of standing out for being AWESOME compared with everyone else…
Everything will work out for me.
OPTIMISE your Morning rituals and watch the OPPORTUNITIES come your way.
I can do this.
OPTIMISE your environment and allow the positive to whoop the negative in every possible way. Eradicate the negatives and I just wonder what OPPORTUNITIES will land at your feet.
The only person who can defeat me is myself.
Be YOU this week and give it your all staying true to your values.

So how are you feeling? Feeling pumped? Feeling energetic? Wanting to smash your day? Have you woken up demanding the best of you today?

I hope you are ready because today’s article is all about GRATITUDE and this is an area that I truly care about. Let me explain.

For me, being grateful is a trait that really shows what a person is like.

We have all held a door for someone and then that person has just walked straight past without saying thanks. We have all been in that situation where we have waved to a car to come through, sat there patiently and then the driver just fly past without saying thanks.

I am sure there are many examples we could give but those two I am sure you have experienced before.

Since becoming a parent, the trait of being grateful has become even more important to me. A goal of mine is to have all my daughters grow up and become successful and happy in whatever discipline they see fit.

I would love them all to be grateful though as I always feel grateful children become grateful adults and when you see such positive traits in people it’s great.

One thing we do every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning on the way to school is to say what we are grateful for. The answers are sometimes serious, and we mention the house we live in or the air we have to breathe or even the fact that we get to travel to and from school together every day.

Sometimes however, they are less serious such as the kids being grateful for the slime they have, the sweets they had the previous weekend or being grateful for pranking Mummy when she woke up.

You couldn’t make up some of the responses you really couldn’t.

The beauty is that it gets the family thinking and gets the family feeling positive and therefore GRATITUDE really is a MUST DO Habit.

So, what is GRATITUDE to me then?

To me, it is all about transforming you, renewing a sense of purpose and joy and really is an amazing tool against negativity and unhappiness. This great tool has many benefits and I want to highlight just eight today:

YOU will feel an increase in happiness
An improvement in YOUR own mental health.
Helps savour positive experiences.
Can help YOU cope better with major life challenges.
Fosters resilience.
BOOSTS self-esteem.
Fosters empathy.
Can aid in having better STRONGER relationships.

When all it takes is a few minutes a day – how can you not want to adopt the simple GRATITIDE habit when it gives the benefits highlighted above?

I know for sure that my kids get a lot from it, my clients also report a higher sense of wellbeing and to be honest, the more I practice it the happier I feel too

So, other than the school run method I explained, there are also many other methods too.

A key method that I absolutely love is the daily evening three things tool. Every evening write down three things that you are grateful for that day. Give a reason for each point too, it doesn’t need to be an essay, but I would personally buy a journal or notebook and keep it by your bed for daily scribing.

This daily act of being grateful will help bring on all the benefits above and I am telling you now that people will notice the difference.

On top of this, you will feel the difference and that is what it is all about.

Next week I am going to show you my G.R.A.T.E.F.U.L mnemonic that will take it up a level and really hit home the benefits of this awesome habitual way of thinking.

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.”

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity … it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.”

“Gratitude also opens your eyes to the limitless potential of the universe, while dissatisfaction closes your eyes to it.”

And finally, my favourite quote:

“Gratitude and attitude are not challenges; they are choices.”

Happy Sunday, be awesome, be happy, be full of energy, be positive and be GRATEFUL … It really is your choice. ?