5 Lessons from 50 Days of Daily Gratitude Practice

It all started with one question two months ago. The question was "What about today am I extremely grateful for?". And, that question changed my life, forever.

I have always been a believer of doing daily gratitude practice and have been doing it intermittently for the last 3 years. Yet when the lockdown from the COVID happened, I wanted to double down on this activity seriously and started it again from April 13, 2020. As of today, I have done the daily practice for the last 67 days. For this blog, I am summarizing my gratitude notes for the first 50 days.

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards"

In the spirit of this quote and also in alignment with both the science and spirit of gratitude - I choose to do the following. I decided to re-read and reflect on my 50 day daily gratitude practice writings to find out patterns. Then took a step further to apply "text analytics" tools from internet to learn more about myself.

Here is the word cloud analysis of gratitude writings considering words of 4 characters or more and filtering it with a min. frequency of the occurrence of the word to be 4 or more times in the last 50 days.

Here's a high level summary:

• words - people, support and opportunities occurred the most; followed by
• words - like-minded, learning, life, meaning, being and time; followed by
• words - family, safety, inspiration, opportunity, goals, etc.

Some of the common 3 word phrases, as shown in text analysis, are shown below:

"Gratitude also opens your eyes to the limitless potential of the universe, while dissatisfaction closes your eyes to it. - Stephen Richards"

This practice opened up my eyes, mind and heart to the potential of gratitude and what I can do to live a life of contentment and fulfillment.

Here are my 5 lessons learned ...

We are the waves and we are the ocean,

Likewise, we are the individuals and we are also the collective.

What got me going during the lockdown was the intentional integration of my life with the following communities (of interest):

• My family and kids
• My work team
• A Coaching and Learning Professionals Group that i have initiated on WhatsApp
• A small friend network with whom I did Sunday Zoom sessions
• A working group with my mentor and other like-minded people working on a common project
• Learning and Coaching Circles in which I have both contributed and learned

It was all about - Community, People, Finding Purpose and Meaning through People.

The COVID situation helped me go back to you my roots and ask a very basic question - "tell me, who you are, not what you are". This inquiry meant that I had to go beyond the labels of what I do, what people think of me and go deeper into understanding "who I really am?".

What really came in handy was the work I have been doing in "core values/character strengths" over many years owing to my professional interests around coaching and learning & development. I have first taken by "Character Strengths" assessment from www.viacharacter.org 10 years ago and this was the best time for me to bring it out and it helped me align to my true. A quick shout out to Ryan Niemiec in Character Strengths along with the VIA Institute.

Here are my top character strengths that helped me align my "being" and "doing":

• Appreciation of Beauty and Excellence
• Perspective (wisdom)
• Creativity & Originality
• Fairness and Justice
• Forgiveness and Mercy
• Leadership
• Spirituality

Knowing who I am made it easy to "do what I needed to do", especially now.

Once you know who you are and when you are surrounded by community of friends, well-wishers and like-minded people, all you can do is to start to hope for better and not just stop at that.

Hope is a decision, whereas wish is a mere desire. I have personally seen and embraced the power of hope which led me to meaningful, purposeful and fulfilling ways of engaging my thoughts, emotions and actions.

Then Hope leads to many opportunities as you slowly begin with your "areas of influence" and work towards giving your 100% and then magically Hope starts expanding your sphere of influence.

Hope can be a driving force as powerful as gravity itself. Just let it lead you with your heart.

The Law of Reciprocity sums it up really well. The more you give, the more you will receive ...

In aligned giving, you always receive in equal or more measures. You receive "meaning, purpose, inspiration, fulfillment and goodwill" and a lot more. This motivates you to give more - to give more of "yourself" and then you receive more of "opportunities to be yourself" - thus setting in motion the "positive spiral of purpose and happiness".

Test it for yourself. Start with giving to the right community aligned with your values. And, let the magic unfold itself.

One evening before putting my 4-year old daughter to sleep, she asked me this question. "What is the song in your heart?" And this stayed with me for a long time.

What is the tune of my silent being which will bring life and meaning to my doing?

I used the last 67 days, each and every day, asking myself the same question. If I can find my unique song and its tune then I can bring it to the world and that would make all the difference - first to me, then to others.

The silent moments spent in daily gratitude brought me closer to my inner song. It is easy for me to know during the day - if I am in-tune or out-of-tune.

Here are some of my favorite statements I have written in my Gratitude Journal:

• I’m grateful for being on the path of growth mindset and integrative learning 
• I’m grateful for living my being and doing goals everyday 
• I’m grateful for fun and meaningful time with kids
• I’m grateful for my ability to stay with my discomfort and reaching out for support
• I’m grateful for learning something new today which will make me a better person and a better leader 
• I’m grateful fur pursuing my passion as work 
• I’m grateful for the personal journey of “unlearn, relearn and learn”
• . I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet and work with amazing people from all over the world 
• I’m grateful for the song in my heart, dance in my steps and the tune in my mind 
• I’m grateful for all the trust I have on people and vice versa
• I’m grateful for my daily private victories 
• I’m grateful for this moment of gratitude 

"The world has enough beautiful mountains and meadows, spectacular skies and serene lakes. It has enough lush forests, flowered fields, and sandy beaches. It has plenty of stars and the promise of a new sunrise and sunset every day. What the world needs more of is people to appreciate and enjoy it." Michael Josephson

I am going to be on this journey of daily gratitude practice as I have experienced its impact and results.

I invite you to join me in this journey (I am at 67 days and growing stronger).

Here's a quick reflective poetry on the same theme, that I have written a while back.

Of Gratitude & Acceptance  
~Anil Santhapuri

I am grateful to 
those who made me 
feel good and nice,

I am also grateful to 
those who made 
me feel otherwise,

The former taught me 
love and joyfulness,
The latter taught me 
patience and forgiveness,

What is love
without patience?
If not a sprouting seed 
forgetting its inherent majesty,

What is joyfulness 
without forgiveness?
If not being a moon that 
hates its own blemishes,

A sprouting seed 
needs patience 
to grow to its majesty,

The blemished moon 
needs to realize perfection 
in its imperfect beauty.

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If you have enjoyed reading this blog, here are links to my earlier blogs.

Do check them out:

1. 9 Powerful Questions for Building Resilience
2. Rise of Phoenix: 8 Strategies for Successful Corporate Turnarounds
3. Oh Leader, Where are you?
4. 3 Life Lessons from a Beach Butterfly 
5. 3 Focus areas for First 90 Days on a Job  
6. 3 Tips for pursuing Excellence through Deliberate Practice
7. 5 Traits of Exceptional Managers and Leaders      
8. 3 Reminders for Work and Character Development
9. 5 Leadership Lessons from Rumi’s Poetry
10. The Supreme Art of Being a Serving Leader
11. I am a Leader and a Coach who ..
12. 3 Gifts to share with the next generation
13. Four Lessons of Emotional Intelligence from “The Hulk”
14. Crossing the Chasm of resistance during Change
15. I met Nelson Mandela Today