Your daily actions need to be as life affirming as your thoughts. What you do needs to reflect what you think. Your actions need to send out the right signals and attract good things into your life in the same way your thoughts do. In my latest book 21 Rituals to Change Your Life I outline daily positive actions or rituals that can make you a magnet for success and happiness.
Theresa Cheung
One of the most powerful and simple ways to increase your chances of happiness and the happiness of those around you is to make gratitude a daily ritual. Saying thank you to the universe and to others is easy but you need to move beyond just words to change your life for the better. You need to express gratitude with deep meaning and ritualise it with a small action. Here are ten things you can DO rather than say or think that will make a world of difference.
1) In the morning when you wake up say thank you out loud for a new day and the fact that you are alive to live it.
2) Write down three things that you are grateful for every day for at least three weeks. Studies show that this exercise truly does work and at the end of a few weeks people felt happier. Make it work for you.
3) Write a grateful comment for someone who has posted something inspiring on Facebook or other social media.
4) Hug someone in your life that you care about for no reason but to show them how much you appreciate them in your life.
5) Offer to do something helpful for a family member, friend or colleague. This could be as simple as making them a cup of tea or collecting their dry cleaning. Actions speak louder than words when it comes to relationships.
6) Buy someone you love a little gift – doesn’t have to be expensive or for any reason just to show them how much you appreciate them.
7) Leave a thank you note surprise for someone to find when they least expect it. You can thank them for something they did or simply thank them for being themselves.
8) In conversation or on social media acknowledge someone and thank them for the light they bring into the world.
9) When life isn’t going as planned write down in a journal or notebook what you can learn from the experience and how you can grow from it. Be grateful for what it teaches you.
10) Before each meal spend a few moments giving thanks for the food you are about to receive and before you go to bed at night spend a few moments giving thanks for your day. If you have a favourite gratitude prayer recite it to yourself out loud.
Try these rituals of gratitude for at least three weeks and see how it changes you from the inside out and makes you feel happier. See how your attitude of gratitude lights the way for others to follow and start right now with the most simple of gratitude rituals. After reading this feature greet everyone and everything – including yourself when you look in the mirror - with a big smile because there is so much in your life you have to be grateful for.
