I woke up on Tuesday morning with a full heart after a terrific Halloween. All those smiling faces peeking out from under hats and masks and hoods and all those little hands toting plastic pumpkins brimming with candy – it’s cuteness overload.
My family spent the evening in the cul de sac with our neighbors sharing pots of homemade chili, hot cider, and various libations as the littles sorted and traded candy on the pavement as seriously as if it were the floor of the NYSE.
Oh, what a night!
And now as we turn the page to November, we move on from costumes and candy and goblins and ghouls to a kinder, gentler month – one that’s all about gratitude and gatherings. And that’s exactly why…
I thought this would be the perfect time to join together in a Gratitude Challenge. 
Each week in November, I’ll share a challenge that will keep you grounded in gratitude throughout the month. Four in all, each one different from the last.
Together, we’ll move through this month with our hearts overflowing and our perspective in check.
Will you join me? I hope so! I can’t think of a better way to spend November!
Week One Challenge: The Gratitude Field Journal
Each day this week, you’ll be going on an expedition to discover overlooked elements of your life for which you are grateful. Big things. Little things. Barely perceptible things. You’re an explorer discovering your life for the very first time, noticing everything good that fills your days. The more specific the better.
Keep a running note on your phone to jot down the things you notice or go old school and keep an actual journal. More visual? Snap photos of the moments that fill your heart.
Each night, reflect on what you’ve noticed. Don’t let yourself go to bed without having recorded AT LEAST FIVE very specific, unique-to-you, moments that made you realize just how good you have it. The more specific the better.
Instead of just “I’m grateful for my family” you might say “I loved hearing my oldest reading a story to my youngest on the screened in porch, with my middle child hovering by the door pretending not to listen.”
Go deeper than you’re inclined. Get into the details. Make yourself notice.
By the end of the week you’ll have a starter list of 35 thoughts with the power to lift your spirits any time you please. And you’ll be beginning to shift your focus from what’s NOT working in your life to what IS.
This is an important shift to make if you want to take your life to the next level. It’s counter-intuitive, but living in gratitude doesn’t actually make you complacent, lulled into a state of lazy satisfaction. Instead, it energizes you to do what it will take to move forward, confident that what you need will be provided.
Grounding yourself in gratitude is a powerful platform from which you can climb to new heights.
Ready to start seeing your life through a perspective-transforming lens? Me, too. Let’s do this.
Tweet it!
Join me and @CherylanneSays in the November #GratitudeChallenge!
