I like to think of gratitude as a joy seed, little kernels of blessing and awareness sprinkled into life.  One of the trickiest places for my mental health is my commute.  I struggle to be grateful while dealing with traffic and can quickly find myself going into unhealthy places, giving myself a hard time.  This realization has encouraged me to bring gratitude as a joy seed practice in my drive now.  This can look like a lot of different things: sometimes it’s a quick voice-to-text thank you to my spouse for making coffee that morning.  Sometimes gratitude is taking time to think of someone and come up with a list of five ways that person is a blessing in this life.  Sometimes it’s having gratitude while listening to a guided meditation. Since gratitude has became part of my commute, I find I have a better attitude towards my drive.

I also like to sprinkle gratitude seeds once I get to work.  Sometimes it’s the small group gathering in the morning to share about a program that went well.  Sometimes it’s the moments where we thank each other for stepping up when the program did not go so well.  Over the years we’ve drawn a giant tree on my office window and as the seasons change we cut out pieces of paper in different shapes and write down some of our happy thoughts and gratitude moments and hang them like a gratitude gallery. This month some of my gratitude has shown up on leaves of different shapes and colors, each one representing a moment of gratitude. One of my coworkers bought a new fluffy white sweater that reminded me of the white rabbit from Alice in wonderland, and it brought me so much joy I was tempted to go out and find myself one to wrap myself up in.

Even the monthly report for the department has a space for gratitude sharing.  A while back I realized I wanted to share a bit with the team in that space – it’s just for us but it’s a way to do some reflection and sharing about the month what just happened. Some of it is personal and of course a good bit is about our work together, but that space has been a gift of awareness building, helping to pause, reflect, and help connect as people and break down our silos of projects and planning. It’s in that space that I give myself permission to take time to notice the many ways that we are impacting each other and working towards our values and goals and is now one more tool of gratitude for our team. 

I invite you to take a few moments to plant a gratitude seed with me.  Imagine yourself as a gardener, holding seeds of gratitude.  Take a look at the seeds in your hand and try to really imagine what they look like.  How big are they?  Do they all look the same?  What colors?  What shapes?  Imagine what it will feel like to plant gratitude in this day. Think about the various places that you’ll be today – the rooms (real and virtual – it all counts), the people who will be in them with you, your between spaces (time in a car, a hallways, standing in line).  Where might you plant gratitude in all of these different spaces?  The gift of seeds is that some of them grow quickly and others might be more quiet in their developing – you might never know how these seeds will manifest and that’s okay.  Gratitude is a gift to the gardener and the garden.  

I hope this season is a blessing to you and yours!  I am taking a hiatus from Joy Work Labs for the rest of this year but am available to chat and support your Joy Work journeys.  There is sign up is under “schedule now” and you’re also welcome to email me directly at rhass@joyworkllc.com.

Plant on, dear ones!