We asked our staff to practice 10 days of gratitude and reflect upon their experiences. Each were given a list of Gratitude Exercises for ideas, or they could come up with their own way to practice gratitude.

Find out how our experiences impacted us. Be inspired to start your own gratitude practices.  

Leeta 

Gratitude Journal: 10 (or days 394 - 403) days of gratitude  

In Andrea Gibson’s poem Time Machine, they write “Regret is a time machine to the past. Worry is a time machine to the future. Gratitude is time machine to the present”. For the past year, I’ve kept that quote written at the top of a gratitude notebook that I’ve used as my own personal time machine to keep me more present in my life. These are the things I’ve been grateful for lately… 

I’m grateful for warms days that turn into cooler nights. 

For the fall wind that brings the familiar feeling of change in the seasons. 

For the incoming cloud bank that signals the promise of upcoming rain. 

Laura  

Gratitude Walk  

I walk early in the mornings before work, and while I don’t necessarily think of these walks as “gratitude walks”, it does give me time to appreciate my surroundings. I love to see the sunrise, each one is different, some are a blaze of color others somber and broody. I listen for the Great Horned Owls that live in the neighborhood and watch the coyotes that trot blithely down the sidewalk. I see rabbits scurrying away to hide under brushes and hear mice rustling in the leaves.  

Linda 

Gratitude Walk 

I take a walk every day, so I decided to make it a “gratitude walk” for the last 10 days.  I usually listen to an audio book or music on my walks but during this exercise, I left my headphones at home and really took in the sights and sounds of the walk. I found myself being grateful for the trees, the birds, my dog’s happily bouncing tail as he sniffs all around, the friendly smiles from other walkers that cross my path…so many things that are seemingly mundane but together made my walks a very pleasant sensory experience.  Now I truly understand my dog’s excitement when he heads out on a walk!  

Michelle 

Gratitude Postcards 

The way that I have chosen to express my thankfulness is by writing postcards for people. On each of the 10 days I wrote a postcard.  When I wrote each postcard, I wrote why the person was special to me and the qualities that I admired in them.  Thinking about and writing down why I am grateful for each person made me appreciate them on a different level.  It has made me happy, and I hope it brightened up their day as well.❤️ 

Bonnie 

Gratitude Rock 

I decided to practice 10 days of gratitude by placing a rock in my pocket as a reminder each day to pause and take a moment to think about what I am grateful for. I found myself always grateful for the loved ones in my life and for the small moments we share each day, whether they are big or small, each one makes a difference in who we are and how we connect to each other.  

Ann  

Gratitude Walk with a Loved One 

While on my Gratitude walks with my mom I thought about how much I appreciate the time I have with her. Walking to the park with her, watching birds, talking about plants and chatting with neighbors. 

John  

Gratitude Rock 

I picked a rock to remind me what I'm grateful for. The idea being that you would keep the rock where I could see it, then when you looked at it you would think of the things you were grateful about for ten days. I eventually realized that I already had it sitting on my desk. It's about the size and color of a bean, but it didn't actually start out as a rock. My rock was once an animal that swam in the oceans millions of years ago. It's a fossil of an ammonite, and there was a time that the seas were filled with them and other amazing living things that we may never know about because we're lucky that they became fossils as all. It's the sense of wonder that my "rock" fills me with is what I am grateful for and how it works its way through my life.