The Gentle Practice of Self-Compassion – Moving Through Inner Barriers

     Compassion blends empathy—the ability to understand and share another’s feelings—with a willingness to actively ease suffering.  Many of us care deeply about the world's pain yet often feel powerless to make a real difference.

     The truth is that the most powerful place to begin is within.  Compassion begins quietly, often in the spaces we overlook within ourselves.  If you've ever struggled to show yourself the same kindness you offer others, know that you're not alone.  This is a gentle reminder — and a guide — to help you notice the places where compassion feels hard, and to lovingly begin again. 

     By turning inward and offering care to our own suffering, we recognize our essential role in collective healing.  Self-compassion isn’t always easy, though.  Certain obstacles can make it especially challenging to access kindness toward ourselves.  Here are five common roadblocks to self-compassion—and how to move through them:

1) Resistance: “I don’t want to shift yet.”

Sometimes we simply don't want to change.  When we’re deeply angry or hurt, shifting toward compassion can feel impossible—or even undesirable.

Counter-move: Notice your resistance without judgment.  It's okay to feel what you feel. Give yourself space to process and observe how the energy of resistance impacts your mind and body.  When you're ready, compassion will still be there waiting.

2) Exhaustion: “I’m too tired to care.”

There are moments when we’re simply drained.  Compassion can feel like another demand we can't meet.  In these moments, numbing or checking out often seems easier.

Counter-move: Rest without pressure.  Practice slow, deep breathing.  Let yourself be exactly as you are.  True compassion often begins with acceptance of your present reality, without forcing a shift.

3) Lack of Context: “Why am I feeling this way?”

We are often better at imagining the backstory behind others' behaviors than offering ourselves the same grace.  Without recognizing the full context of our own lives, our emotions can feel overwhelming or unjustified.

Counter-move: Step back and consider your life context.  What ingredients – stress, grief, transitions, unmet needs, cycles – are fueling your feelings?  Give yourself the same compassion you’d extend to a struggling friend.  What might you say to a loved one in the same situation?

4) Anger and Frustration: “Why do I have to do the work when no one else does it?”

It’s easy to feel resentful when it seems like you're carrying the emotional labor others aren’t even acknowledging.  This mindset can build frustration and feed resistance to compassion.

Counter-move: Remember that shifting is your choice.  No one else’s readiness or awareness can dictate your peace.  Notice how anger feels in your body—are you clenching burning coals in your bare hands to throw at others?  Meet your anger with curiosity, honor its messages, and choose compassion for your own sake.

5) Bias: “I don’t deserve compassion.”

Hidden beliefs can block our ability to care for ourselves.  You might think that self-compassion is selfish, that you don’t have enough time, or that softness will leave you vulnerable.  If you’re accustomed to focusing on the negative, compassion can also feel foreign and uncomfortable.

Counter-move: Pay attention to the beliefs that surface around self-compassion.  Be gentle with yourself when these biases arise.  Keep challenging these biased thoughts with, “I don't have to believe everything I think.” The more you practice, the more natural compassion will feel.

     Self-compassion isn't about perfection; it's about practice.  By recognizing and working through these obstacles, we move closer to the powerful truth: Healing ourselves is not separate from healing the world.  Remember, every moment you choose compassion — even when it feels awkward or difficult — you are creating a new rhythm within yourself.  Be patient.  Healing takes time, tenderness, and many small, courageous steps.  You are already on the path.

Listening to the Rhythms Within

Rhythm surrounds and fills us – our hearts beat, blood flows, and thoughts move through our minds in constant motion. Within these movements lie patterns, carrying wisdom if we take the time to listen.

     By tuning into our inner rhythms, we develop discernment. The world may try to impose its own rhythms on us – telling us who we are or how we should be – but only we can truly know our own truth. And even then, self-discovery is a lifelong process.

     Discomfort is part of this journey. Cacophonous rhythms, like doubt, fear, or inner criticisms, often feel overwhelming, yet they teach us what harmony truly is. Without sorrow, we wouldn’t recognize joy. Without tension, we wouldn’t know resolution. Listening to the uncomfortable rhythms helps us understand the whole.

     Like tuning an instrument, we must first hear the discord before we can adjust. Approaching this process with curiosity and an open mind—without rushing to label or judge—allows for deeper awareness.

     Start small. Notice moments of inner discord, such as judgment, blame, or criticism. Pay attention to your body’s signals and the sensations that arise. Step back with an eagle-eye view, observing objectively rather than reacting. In the “courtroom of the mind,” challenge assumptions and focus only on what you know to be true. Even if clarity isn’t immediate, simply noticing your internal landscape is the first step toward alignment.

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Listening to the Rhythm of Judgment

As humans, we constantly make judgments about our environment, helping us discern what resonates and what feels out of sync.  These judgments label, categorize, and make sense of our world.  When judgment is neutral, it is curious and innocent—like noticing something you like or dislike.  Neutral judgment is like tasting a dish and deciding whether you like it; it’s evaluative without personal critique.  Yet, there’s a tipping point where judgment shifts out of rhythm and becomes toxic.  Toxic judgment, on the other hand, is akin to declaring the dish—or the chef—unworthy.

This shift in judgment diminishes either us or someone else.   Critical self-judgment presses us down, leaving us feeling inadequate and not enough.   When directed outward, it may offer a fleeting boost to our confidence, but this comes at someone else’s expense.  True uplift doesn’t come from criticism; it arises from compassion and love.

Most of us engage in judgment without realizing it.  The key is to notice—with curiosity, not criticism—when this shift occurs.  Pause and tune into how judgment feels in your body.  If you judge yourself, respond with compassion.  If you judge others, ask yourself: What unmet need is driving this?

We must first slow down and listen.  Have you ever deeply listened to the energy of judgment, approaching it with curiosity instead of avoidance?  It exists everywhere, within and around us.  Directed at us, it stings.  Directed outward, it disconnects us.  By attuning to these patterns, we can realign with acceptance and connection.

“No Judgment January” is an opportunity to notice when neutral judgment shifts into criticism and bias—what Brene Brown calls “power over.” When you catch these moments, pause.  Reflect on what this judgment says about your inner needs.  Practice offering love, compassion, and equality in your judgments instead of critique.  Let’s create harmony in our relationships, ensuring our judgments uplift rather than diminish.

Here are three crucial steps to begin:

1)      Notice when neutral judgment shifts into a critical tone.  Ask yourself: What am I feeling right now, and why?

2)      Pause and breathe.  Observe the feeling without reacting.

3)      Respond with kindness.  Judgment doesn’t need to be met with more judgment.  Choose compassion instead.

Together, let’s listen to the rhythm of judgment and shift from dissonance to harmony.  How will you begin noticing this rhythm in your daily life?

Stay tuned for more daily insights from Dr. Lisa each day this January!!! Subscribe to my Substack to get daily support for the No Judgment January Challenge!

Staying Grateful in Stressful Times

By: Lisa M. Templeton, Ph.D.

     Staying grateful is essential to feeling a deeper love and joy in our lives. Taking the time to appreciate the beauty in nature, art, or in the eyes of a loved one benefits us all. Generally, energy is attracted to similar energy – like attracts like. When we take on an attitude of gratitude, we live in a more abundant state of being which in turn brings more abundance to us. We also feel much better physically, emotionally and spiritually when we focus on abundance, rather than lack.

     It can be challenging to stay in this energy of gratitude, even during the easiest times. We get habitually caught up in day to day life and just getting through it. Many of us have worked to cultivate more gratitude in our lives here and there. When things are going our way, we stop and give thanks that things went so smoothly. We get what we want and we are grateful.

     Alternatively, during times of struggle, considering the blessings in our life can seem impossible. The irritability and frustration of difficult circumstances overrides and we forget about gratitude altogether. In times of struggle, we often try to change or get rid of what is difficult and attempt to minimize our pain. As a result, we end up giving more attention to the problem and living in resistance with the difficult circumstance, which ends up giving the problem more energy than it needs, leaving us drained and depleted.

     If we can work to focus on the blessings, seen or unseen, relating to whatever the situation, it is much easier to let go of our resistance to the situation and open ourselves to learning from the difficult. No matter how difficult a situation is, start with taking a step back to gain a broader, vaster perspective and then begin to look for blessings that you may learn from.

     To do this requires a small element of faith. It may be years before you are able to see something positive from a terrible, traumatic experience. Or, you may have something not go your way and minutes or hours later realize why that happened. The question is – do you believe that there are positive learning experiences to be had in difficult times? If you do believe that, why resist the negative at all? There are many jewels that arise from dark places. Would you give back the jewels to avoid the dark? My answer is no as I want to experience life fully and uncover what the universe has to offer me. We can work to welcome what comes and let go of our resistance and need to control with the aid of gratitude.

     It is so hard to see the positive in difficult experiences, yet hindsight is always 20/20. Take a moment to think of a past difficult situation you have faced and try to find one positive aspect to guide you in why that experience might have occurred. Find the jewel in a dark place you once traveled. What did you learn from the difficult experience? What positive aspects came from this difficulty that you can be grateful for today? Did you meet someone new as a result? Did you acquire a characteristic that now shapes you? Would you change the past if you could? Stay thoughtful in this exercise before answering.

     Resistance and fear are the biggest obstacles to staying in gratitude. When things don’t go our way, we want to change it, control it and mold it into what feels better for us. Letting go of our resistance creates room for the light to shine within the darkness – for the jewel to be much easier to see. It also takes much less energy to focus on abundance than it does on lack.

     The next difficult situation you run into, big or small, take a moment to detach from the negative emotion that arises, observe the feeling without judgement, take a breath, and remind yourself that there are or will be positives from the situation to draw from, even if you can’t see any in that moment. If no positives can be gleaned, stay attuned and look for abundance with love and joy. Be grateful for any positives that can be seen – for the strength that the pain will create, for the support and resources you have in your life. This takes extra energy at times, but it is totally worth it. Make this a habit and the difficult times suddenly become more like the brief afternoon storms that settle into a glorious sunset.

     Being grateful opens up our heart to allow more to come into it. The bigger our heart, the bigger and better our lives become. No matter your circumstances, there is always something to be thankful for- it may be just that we are alive knowing that the difficult will always pass, just as the storms move away to bring out a beautiful divided sky of dark and light.

Working with Pain

It can be incredibly difficult to work with and relate to pain. Most of the time, we want to move away from it, and we do our best to avoid it. When pain does come, be it emotional or physical, it can bring tremendous heaviness. This discomfort turns us away further and we tend to relate less and less with the pained part of our body.

As much as we want to get away from pain; instead, we must practice leaning into it. Do your best to stay curious about it and work on staying objective and present. Take deep breaths and attend to your senses. This is easier said than done and very difficult to practice when experiencing pain. Yet, to manage pain, we need to observe how we are relating to it and transform the relationship, especially if it is not loving and compassionate.

In working with my own pain, I have found a few grounding tools to offer a path for leaning into and finding more space for peace and compassion. Continuing with this idea of leaning in, I chose a simple and easy acronym using the word P.A.I.N.:

Patience – we must be patient with ourselves and our bodies. It is very easy to become frustrated and/or confused amid pain and discomfort. We may become irritable and incredibly overwhelmed wanting to push through to the other side. It’s normal to make attempts to control the pain and/or try to bargain or numb our way out of it. Whatever the situation, we must slow down and meet ourselves where we are. When we do so, we create a bit more space to properly care for ourselves.

Attunement – the definition of attunement is “to bring into accord, harmony, or sympathetic relationship; to adjust” to the situation. There is no harmony in criticism and judgment of our body for radiating pain. We must attend to our pain and compassionately care for it to the best of our ability. If pain occurs, we must adjust to it and attune to what our body needs. When we pay attention to the pain, we are listening and offering an opportunity to relate and pivot our plans to adjust for a healthier path of care.

Inquiry – as we lean into and attend to the pain, there is space to ask some important questions: 1) what do my mind and body need?; 2) how can I best care for myself right now?; and 3) what is this pain trying to tell me? Stay open and curious. Our bodies have so much wisdom to offer us if we stop and listen.

Notice – after offering space and inquiring within, we can take notice of the answers to these questions, even if we initially have no idea. As we lean into the uncomfortable, uneasy, and out of control emotions, we realize that these emotions live beneath the surface along with the pain. Stay objective and open. The best way to attempt to control something is to first relate with it.

Remember that each of these letters and the concept it represents is not based on a step-by-step process. Instead, each can be used very fluidly to support each other. This is not a linear step-by-step to get you out of pain, it’s a formula for getting you in relationship with your body.

As we learn to create space for ourselves, we can listen beyond what we are used to hearing. There is harmony in allowing and this offers us more empowerment as we continue our journey in these fragile bodies. When we take better care of ourselves, we learn how to take better care of others.

Taking Brief Moments of "You-Time"

Taking Brief Moments of “You-Time”

     Living in our society, so many of us have received the subtle message that if we take time for ourselves, it is selfish. Unfortunately, that has led a large portion of Americans to focus on others in lieu of managing and understanding themselves. When we focus primarily on others without self-awareness, we are often not feeling empowered or uplifted.

     This article is a reminder that we can’t focus only on ourselves or always put our attention on others – we must do both. We need to take care of ourselves and others equally – starting with ourselves. If we truly want to see more equality in the world, we must start within and expand out to others from there. We can’t give to others if we have nothing to offer and end up depleting ourselves. Each of us has the capacity to fill our own cups and then give to others. We are all deserving of attention, particularly coming from the one life-long friend who will always be there – you!

     When we take time to focus on ourselves, and then focus our attention on others to give back to them, there is more of a balance of giving and receiving. This is the reciprocal nature of the universe in harmonious relationships. If we focus just on ourselves or just on others, we can feel imbalanced and out of harmony with ourselves.

     “You-time” doesn’t have to be a full day at the spa. It can be brief moments that help us ground and replenish, offering care and kindness in the present moment. This awakens a gentleness that lightens the heart. Start by checking in with yourself a couple of times a day and build from there. Take the time to fill your cup with the attention, appreciation, and love that you find helpful from others. Rumi stated, “never give from the depths of your well, but from the overflow.” Take the time to assess the fullness (or emptiness) of your well. Learn how to listen within to understand how your inner world works.

     Many patients I have spoken with over the years express feelings of guilt when taking time for self. You are never selfish in taking “you-time.” Selfish is focusing on self without ever giving thought to others. You can check-in and give yourself attention even in the act of doing something for someone else. Take a breath and offer a bit of love to yourself, especially in difficult situations that are taxing and depleting. Meet the moment as best you can and be there for yourself, just as other loved ones may be there for you. Stay curious about what is happening whenever feelings of guilt arise. Check-in with yourself on where this belief comes from and why you do or do not believe it. Ask yourself, am I doing anything wrong? Am I in balance and in good relations with myself to have better relations with others?

     A little bit of “you-time” really goes a long way. Sometimes when I feel depleted, it takes only a few minutes of attention within and some deep breaths to fill my cup again. Remember that the perception of what you have in your cup influences how you feel. We just need to remember ourselves and give attention, appreciation, and love. From here, it’s always easier to give quality care from the overflow.

    If you are interested in working out self-care techniques to aid in creating more “you-time” – I will be holding an in-person workshop called Developing and Practicing Skills for Self-Care: A Mindful Morning on May 18th from 10-1pm. For more information, go to my website https://www.drlisatempleton.com/selfcare.

Being With Grace

Being with Grace

By Dr. Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.

     For some time, I have been considering the meaning of the word grace. We have all heard the word used in many connotations referring to the grace of Mother Mary, the grace of a deer, the grace of forgiveness. So, what does grace really mean? Is it compassion for another or forgiving of harm? Is it about movements and flow that feels effortless? Does grace relate to elegance and poise? Patience, love, and softness? What about present moment awareness?

     Grace seems to encompass all these qualities at the same time. Grace seems to live in between the moments of “doing” and it somehow arrives more consciously when intentionally invited. To access it, we must be in the moment, slow down and set an intention to receive it. Perhaps grace is something beyond us and/or within us, living beneath the din of our cell phones, news, and social media. Consider in this moment how you can connect with the qualities of grace, including compassion, patience, poise, ease, softness, and effortlessness. In whatever way you might define the term grace, consider expanding your mind to consider all these qualities occurring at once. Each happening in the present moment. We just need to be aware of what is happening and the rhythms of how these higher vibrational qualities feel to us in the moment.

     Start with this brief exercise. Take a deep breath. Slow down your thoughts, give it a little time with some patience. Exhale deeply, inhale deeply. Now imagine a beautiful deer on the edge of a deep green forest just grazing and frolicking in a field. Notice how it moves with sure-footed confidence. There is no worry, there is no tension – only present moment awareness, living in the now and in the beauty of the moment, alert and attuned.

     If we listen to the present moment, we will always find those aspects of grace. Generally, when we set an intention to look for it, we will find it. That sweet peace deep within that is full of care and kindness. Showing up for ourselves and each other with a soft presence creates more strength and resiliency. This also brings more harmonious flow and rhythm to our lives. In a world that seems to embrace chaos and dissonance, we must take agency and stay connected to our own mind, body, and spirit with love.

     Practice imagining the deer and sitting with this energy of being totally connected to the present moment. The deer is not thinking about the past or the future, only the moment at hand. Ask for grace to come into your life; listen and look for the softness, effortlessness, harmony, love, and compassion of grace. Experiment and play with it. Whatever this energy is, it is here in every present moment to help us get through life’s incredible difficulties. Even if you are not religious or spiritual, you can consider and connect with it. Grace lives in the present moment; yet, it is within us, as we are made from the universe itself. Play and frolic around like the deer listening for the energy of grace and stay in the moment to notice what happens.

Six Simple Mindful Life Hacks

Six Simple Mindful Life Hacks

By: Dr. Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.

     It’s hard to address our inner world in a society full of external distractions and never-ending responsibilities. Yet, a little bit goes a long way when it comes to mindfulness. Just build small bits of attention and appreciation for your mind and body into your day to help ground and balance you. The key is to remember that the present moment always offers a gift.

     In a very busy life full of constant tasks and activities, it’s so easy to deprioritize attention to our inner world; yet it is so extremely important. When we gently move back into the present moment and take brief amounts of time to practice, we can gain more focus and awareness of what is happening around and within us. We can find space in a world that can seem confining, and also identify and know ourselves more deeply, which offers the opportunity for empowerment, compassion, and self-love.

     Here are six simple and brief practices you can do to gain more agency within and build some objectivity to broaden your inner perspective:

1) Engage your senses – take a few moments throughout your day to notice what you are smelling, tasting, seeing, feeling, and hearing. Be aware of what’s around and within you. Practice for 10-20 seconds a few times a day.

2) Practice mindful scrolling – Just before you get on social media, take a few seconds to ground into the present moment and notice what’s going on within you as you begin to scroll and engage. Listen and attend to the thoughts in your mind and emotions in your body. Take agency of your inner world, particularly while being bombarded with excessive information. Also, try the same practice when watching the news. Stay open-minded and objective and take breaks as needed to attune to yourself.

3) Take 3 deep slow breaths in and out. Take note briefly of how your body feels pre and post breaths. Deep breaths bring more oxygen into our limbs and therefore can offer a feeling of relaxation. Imagine on your in-breath, taking in care and love, while on your out-breath, letting go of what doesn’t serve you.

4) Give a little attention to your body. Your body moves everywhere with you and endures all that your mind puts it through. Be kind and attentive to it. Watch for negative judgments about any pain, cravings, emotions, and/or discomfort occurring in your body. Try setting an alarm to check-in for a 5-10 second perspective twice a day.

5) Stay present and listen to your thoughts. Take note of the dialogue going on internally as you task and move through life. Are you living in a mind where blossoms are growing, or a mind in conflict with yourself? Most of our thoughts are unconscious so you may not be aware of many thoughts until you begin to listen. Set an intention to listen with compassion and curiosity. If you notice a ‘Debbie downer’ in your head, stay assertive and kind – set loving boundaries on what you don’t want in your mind and start growing and cultivating what you do. Consider how you might speak to a loved one vs. yourself. Plant the seeds of love and compassion into your consciousness as often as possible.

6) Try a focusing exercise daily – we need guidance to keep our attention and focus strong, especially in such a distracting culture. A focusing exercise is a great practice for our brains on technology – like weights to help our brains gain muscle. First, choose a stimulus, any stimulus around or within you that piques your senses. For example, it could be the sound of the heater, the smell of coffee, the texture of a soft blanket or maybe the sensations in your hands. Choose something to focus on and stay there to the best of your ability. Set an alarm for 30 seconds and stay focused on that one stimulus. If (when) other thoughts come in, bring your focus back to the stimulus at hand and practice keeping other thoughts at bay. Remember that if you find yourself too distracted, you can always switch to another stimulus. For example, a barking dog or lawn mower can function as an interesting stimulus to focus on with curiosity. Continue to increase the time from 30 seconds to perhaps a minute or 2 minutes. We can do anything for a couple of minutes!

     These life hacks for mindfulness along with strength and objectivity of mind are essential practices for life. Set your intention to try and then take on little bits at a time. Choose one or two of these practices at first and give it a try. Remember that the whole point is to practice noticing whatever is in the present moment without judgment, so just observe how the practices make you feel. If you can develop these small habits of mindfulness, you can change your life.

Working the Cure: A powerful tool for change

Working the Cure: A powerful tool for creating change

By Lisa Templeton, Ph.D.

We all want more love and acknowledgment in the divisive and chaotic world we live in today. If we are to find a way through and connect with ourselves and each other, we must lean into ourselves and cultivate practices that help us evolve and open our hearts to love.

Working the CURE is an acronym to help us remember and stay attuned to what we have control over in our perception. It is a tool that can uplift us all. This starts when we listen more deeply to what is within ourselves. It can’t hurt to explore our inner world a bit – to breathe in and set our intention to eavesdrop on our mind and body – take a break from the outside world for just a few brief moments.

Be courageous and be the change you are looking for – try this practice and work the CURE:

C – Stay compassionately curious with care to what you hear internally. Be kind and gentle. This takes strength and focus. Mindfulness is about being present without judgment. Take on an attitude of wonderment with your inner world. There is nothing to fear. It may not feel comfortable to be consciously kind to yourself, so a good starting point is just being neutral with whatever comes up.

U – Give unconditional love and care to yourself as often as you can. This won’t always be natural, but ask yourself how you feel when you say mean comments to yourself and/or criticize aspects of your body, performance, etc. Love is so much lighter than hate or judgment and you can overtime create much more ease and calm in your mind and body with love.

R – Realign or reset your perspective and expand/broaden what is really happening within, especially in response to your external world. Consider what you don’t know. Take the time to counter your own beliefs. Why do you believe them? What experiences led you there? As you reset your perception, you can the confirmation bias that lives within us all (i.e., we look for information in our environment to confirm our beliefs, not counter them). Take time to consider other possible perceptions and/or experiences.

E – Offer empathy to yourself first and then to others. We often hear about empathy, defined as stepping into someone else’s perspective or walking in their shoes. In this practice, begin first by walking in your own shoes and considering the context and experience of your life. Many seem to have more empathy for others than for themselves. This practice always starts with yourself. Put your own life into context and consider the circumstances going on around you with an empathic perspective, as you would someone you love. With practice, you can get better at shifting your perspective into someone else’s.

The more we practice working the cure, the better we get at opening our perspective and listening to what is going on around and within us. This tool automatically creates change within, and we become more conscious of what we can and cannot control. Additionally, there is a love that functions as curative and caring that radiates from all practicing. As we take back our own power, we inspire and empower others to do the same. Together, we can all build on the light that is within each of our hearts.

Cultivating Gratitude in Times of Difficulty

    We have so much for which to be grateful. We can always find something, no matter how difficult our lives might be. Research finds that practicing gratitude daily leads to better quality sleep, increased immunity, a calmer perspective, as well as a healthier heart. From a psychological perspective, gratitude has been found to help people overcome trauma and improve mental resilience, even in difficult times. Understanding that gratitude affects us in so many positive, amazing ways, it's hard to make an argument against not practicing. So how can we cultivate a practice of gratitude? Here are 7 suggestions:

1) Set your intention to stay mindful to all the moments in your life. Remain present as often as you can. Consider all that is around you - the gadgets and conveniences that many of us have and all the extra time they provide for us. For example, I am so thankful for the dishwasher. When I am loading or unloading, I sometimes think about the amount of time I’m saving from not having to wash and dry every dish. I take a breath and smile my appreciation for this experience. Other examples include having a washing machine, a refrigerator, or even indoor plumbing.

2) Tune into your body as you feel thankful for something or someone. Observe the impact it has on your body if you can. Take note of this feeling as you can always come back to it. Some studies suggest that it takes nearly 12 seconds for a positive emotion to register in our brains (3-4 seconds for negative emotions, btw), so let the feeling draw out a bit.

3) Watch out for feelings of unworthiness or thoughts that you might not “deserve” something beautiful for which you are grateful. The question of whether we or anyone else deserve something is not really in our jurisdiction. Let that go and know that it’s okay to move into gratitude.

4) Let go of attachments. Anything for which I am immensely grateful for, I may fear losing at times. Everything is transitory, yet we can offer our full thanks even if it’s gone tomorrow. Stay in the present moment.

5) Keep a gratitude log. Write down 5 things/people/situations for which you are grateful each day. If you miss a day, just work on letting it be. Practice when you can and keep the log near you. You could always just keep it in your phone as we all seem to be near our phones in most moments. Alternatively, you can buy a beautiful notebook and use a page a day.

6) In times of difficulty, it can be tough to even feel the experience of gratitude. There have been times when I have written down my 5 things in my journal and I am struggling to access the feeling involved in that moment. That is okay. When we go through times of trauma and struggle, we can feel numb or too overwhelmed with other emotions to feel gratitude fully. Remember that the practice matters on a deeper level. You may not fully feel gratitude, but the habit will remain; this will offer incredible resiliency for the tough aspects of life. When we move through our pain, we set our emotions in motion.

7) One of the most difficult things with which we all struggle with is being grateful for ourselves. Don’t forget to offer gratitude for yourself – both your body and your mind. We tend to focus all our gratitude externally. Our bodies can be frustrating, and they require so much maintenance and so much attention while it continues to need sleep, eat, use the restroom, and address emotions that move around and through our body at very inconvenient times. Meanwhile, our minds can move so quickly with such rapid thoughts, it can feel totally overwhelming at times. At the same time, the abilities of our mind and body and how so many functions do work automatically in amazing ways. If there is something not working in your mind or body, do your best to acknowledge and give gratitude for what is working.

     Cultivating a practice of gratitude will benefit you throughout your entire life. It is a mindset and a remembering of our gifts, our joys, the beauty that lives all around us, even in the dark times of sorrow.