Finding Gratitude

We wanted to share with you a 4 part blog series to share a few journey insights and tips on how you can find gratitude everyday.

We want to introduce Annie T. and her journey to find gratitude everyday with the book, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. In her own WORDs:

When seasons change, I get that itch to purge and clean the house. I’m left standing in front of my closet with nothing to wear which leads to shopping which leads to stuffing my house again, and so the cycle continues. I truly wanted to break the cycle, but I didn’t know what I was missing. It seems like I've tried every method of cleaning and tidying to keep my home from getting messy again, but it felt like there was a tool that I just didn’t have in my tool box. In comes, The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo.

This book, on the surface, is about how to clean your house. Marie Kondo takes you through how to declutter your space in a way that you will never have to truly declutter again. Below the surface, she teaches you how to find gratitude in your space and in your life. It is a powerful tool to add to your arsenal. I found three key points on my journey in tidying up that contributed to feeling daily gratitude. Just in time for the holiday chaos.
Before I started, it was really important to figure out why I wanted to find a way to declutter my house. In the book, she takes her readers through a visualization exercise to imagine the lifestyle I want to live. For me, that state of my home reflected me. I felt stuck and unable to move forward with my life. I wanted to let go of things I’m holding onto in order to let in new experiences and growth to take place. What started a simple way to clean my space quickly ended up being, well, life-changing.  
With every light bulb moment this journey gave me, I was able to bring it down to 3 BIG steps:
Letting go of Obligations: 
There is a difference between saying “I need/have to do this.” and “I get to do this.” Simply put, it’s a matter of obligation versus choice.
Forgiveness:
The most crucial step to be able to find the joy in everyday, is forgiveness. Most importantly, forgive yourself. I am my own worst critic. I know I will always put others before myself.
Joy: 
I felt this spark of happiness that energized me! It sounds crazy, but it works. It’s contagious.
  
LET'S DO THIS TOGETHER
Come join us in finding gratitude. I'll be sharing more about my journey to gratitude and the exercises that helped me along the way. Grab a journal or a sheet of paper to write your own ah-ha moments. As we move through the blog series, it'll be a great way for your to come back to see the progress you've made. 
As you finish reading this post, and there are two steps that you can take to prepare for your gratitude exercise. 
  1. Connect with WHY. Why do you want to find gratitude everyday? We are setting our intention for this journey. This will be your North Star for when you are feeling discouraged. You can always come back to your WHY and continue on your way. 
  2. Visualize the life you want to live. This is an exercise Marie Kondo sets at the start of her book. Get as specific as you can. How do you want to feel when you wake up, what do you want to see all around your house? What is the feeling have when you leave your home or come back from work everyday? One tip is to go through your five senses when you do this, yes including taste.
Thank you for choosing to go on this journey with us. If you have any comments or questions, please email reflection@myintent.org. We would love to hear from you!
Written by Annie Trinh