Self-Care Tip - Finding Positivity In The Daily Routine

What if I told you one of the most powerful habits you can develop to foster ongoing positivity is to practice grindfulness? You'd probably say, what the heck is that? Well, what it is, is powerful. Grindfulness is a combination of gratitude and mindfulness. I'll explain. Practicing gratitude is great, but research shows our sense of gratefulness gets overpowered by life's irritations and disappointments, and that we're too restrictive of what's worthy of our gratitude. For example, maybe you're thankful when your spouse does something super nice for you, like book a weekend getaway for you and your best friend, but you don't think to be grateful for the little things they do every day. I've been there. Practicing mindfulness is also great. Mindfulness means being aware of and noticing your thoughts and feelings, and then calmly acknowledging them without judgment. But it's more of a passive activity. It doesn't actively trigger positivity. In the middle of gratitude and mindfulness lies grindfulness, being aware of and noticing small details in the daily grind of life, then expressing appreciation and joy for those details in the moment. Let's say you're driving to the grocery store, a weekly errand you're tired of and frankly not in the mood for. On the way though, you notice how the leaves shimmer on the trees along the road, dappling in the sunlight. So you mentally pause to marvel at it. That's grindfulness. Or maybe you're sending your first of many work emails for the day, like you do every day, only this time you notice how fast the email is gone after you hit send. You pause to marvel at the fact that your words magically go out through the airwaves to land in someone else's inbox, thousands of miles away. Amazing, how is that technology even possible? Grindfulness, it lowers the bar on what to be grateful for and mindful of and raises the frequency of expressing appreciation and actively positive thoughts in the moment.