Don’t Procrastinate on Self-Care
April 26, 2023
The Stress and Gratitude Connection
April 26, 2023
By: Anne Poirier, Director of Behavioral Health
In a previous blog, we built a “Self-Care Toolbox” to help with prioritizing and identifying effective methods of self-care. Now, we’ll build a Gratitude Toolbox to help put that concept into practice yet again.
Creating a Gratitude Toolbox
When you create a gratitude toolbox, this can have a profound effect on your life, including your relationship with food, your body, and much more. So, let’s gratefully jump in!
Start a Gratitude Journal.
The first thing you should do is simply write down a list of things that you are grateful for, whether in list style, paragraphs, stories, charts, phrases, or whatever works for you.
Write a Thank You Letter
Writing a thank you letter to someone who has positively impacted your life can have deep personal effects. It could be a friend, mentor, coach, teacher, Girl Scout leader, bus driver, boss, cousin, or fictional movie character. This is something that can be sent or not…it is the act of writing it that counts.
Visit Someone Special To say “Thank You”
This can be a visit directly to someone’s home, work, or even a gravesite. If you don’t know where the person is, you can go to a special place that reminds you of them and speak to them from your heart.
Write a Thank You Letter To Your Body
When you write a thank you note to your body (or even just a body part), it may be a part of your body you have not liked and have spoken negatively to in the past. Take a moment to say thank you for what it has done for you. It could look something like this:
Stomach: Thank you for allowing me the gift of giving birth to four amazing babies.
Thighs: Thank you for continuing to transport my body where I want and need to go every day.
Arms: Thank you for being strong enough to hold my grandchildren.
Meditate on Gratitude at the End of the Day
Take a few minutes to close your eyes, notice your breath, and say thank you for whatever you want: a good conversation you had that day, a great cup of coffee, a loving husband, a beautiful daughter, strong legs…and so on.
Thank the food that fuels you to live your life. Say thank you to the store you received it from, thank you to the farmer who grew it, thank you to the person who prepared it, or thank you to your stomach for digesting it.
Take a moment to look in the mirror and find some compassionate and kind words to say to yourself. Treating yourself in this manner will decrease stress and help increase self-confidence and self-esteem.
Daily Ritual Practice
What is one thing you do every day? Have a cup of coffee? Take a warm shower? Get into the car to drive to work? During one of your daily rituals, take a moment to give thanks. It could be something you take for granted—your ability to hear, walk, see, or it could be a thank you to your car, your dog, your coffee…
Starting a gratitude practice can have wonderful health and well-being benefits. Find one that feels right to you, and begin to notice the positive effects right away. If you’ve enjoyed making a gratitude toolbox, why not take the time to build a self-care toolbox, too? Here’s how to do just that.
Join us on our Hilton Head Health Facebook Page to share your gratitude! It’s a safe, non-judgmental space where we share our gratitude practices, successes, thoughts, and experiences while supporting and encouraging each other to live a life of peace, joy, happiness, and freedom.