My daughter and I recently started a new habit that we both enjoy. We found a playlist on Spotify that has affirmations about gratitude and self-love.
You’ll often find the practice of saying affirmations in a yoga or meditation practice. It is the practice of verbally (or internally) repeating statements of encouragement, an example is “I choose to feel happy right now.” One subset of affirmations are “I am” statements. Examples of this are, “I am loved, I am supported, I am grateful, etc.”
Playing this Spotify list has been a nice uplifting routine for us to start the day as I’m driving her to school. One that we particularly enjoy goes like this:
“I am grateful to be alive.
I am blessed that I woke up today, not everyone had this privilege.
I am grateful for all of the blessings that I have.
I am grateful for all that I have and what is to come.
I am grateful to be loved.
I am grateful to have so many people in my life that love me.
I am grateful for access to a clean environment, food and water.”
These words by Kinder Records mean a lot to me as I think about the simple blessings of my life. It seems I easily forget how many are suffering from the impact of war, natural disasters, hunger, homelessness, and more during this holiday season.
This affirmation has also been a reminder for me to embrace the busy season ahead. As parents, we know the last few months of the year are full with sports, holidays and end of year work projects (for some)! Having a quick gratitude practice like this can help support and ease the added stress, as well as keep us grounded on a daily basis.
For our family, it’s been another busy year. We made the decision this past summer to sell our house and start a new house build. It was a hard decision. So much of ourselves personally were wrapped up in those walls. We are fortunate though that we sold our home quickly and we are well on our way building our next house!
Living in transition between homes (and renting again!) has forced me to seek out practices to remind me that I can be grateful and content in any circumstance. I can choose to embrace change and transitions, and so can all of us in this busy holiday season!
