Everyday Practices
Gratitude Affirmations
For Noticing What’s Already Good
US$6 3 practices · 7 tracks · listen or download
Get the pack · US$6When things are hard, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s already good. The small things are still there, like a wave from a courteous driver or a friend who gets it. We just stop seeing them.
There’s nothing wrong with us when this happens. The mind leans towards the negative, and it always has. So noticing the good takes a little practice.
A few of these tracks use one simple idea from the neuroscientist Rick Hanson. When you notice something you’re grateful for, stay with it for about twenty seconds, long enough for it to sink in.
There are three tracks: a letter to gratitude, a longer guided practice called The Power of 20 Seconds, and affirmations for honouring your own growth. Two of them come in three lengths.
What’s inside
Dear Gratitude
3 versions
Full version · 16 minThe letter only · 9 minMicro version · 5 min
For noticing the good, even when times are tough. This is a letter read aloud, from you to gratitude: ‘Dear Gratitude, I am you when I choose you.’ It thanks gratitude for the little glimmers, talks about what happens in the brain when we feel it, and commits to holding each moment of appreciation for twenty seconds. The full version ends with gratitude affirmations. The middle version is the letter on its own. The micro version keeps a short part of the letter and a few affirmations.
The Power of 20 Seconds
22 min
For a longer gratitude practice. It starts with a soft half smile, ‘just like the Mona Lisa’, and a little neuroscience on why twenty seconds matters. Then you reflect on three things you’re grateful for, a recent meaningful moment through your senses, a time your intuition helped you, and three living beings in your life. The second half is a mindfulness practice, noticing the parts of your body that are still and the movement of your breath. It ends with two words: ‘thank you.’
Honouring My Growth
3 versions
Full version · 15 minFrom the countdown · 11 minStraight to the affirmations · 8 min
For noticing how far you’ve come. The full version opens with the idea that honouring ourselves isn’t ‘the default setting of the brain’, so it takes practice. After a count down from ten, the affirmations begin: ‘I choose to honour my growth.’ You acknowledge what you’ve been through, the little wins, and the lessons from challenges and failures, and give yourself permission to grow at your own pace. The middle version starts at the countdown, and the shortest goes straight to the affirmations.