Attitude of Gratitude

I'm a bit of a fan of words. I love how you can choose to be verbose or succinct depending how you feel on the day. I love how words can sit heavy on your mind, or flit through light as a feather. I'm also a sucker for a good old fashioned rhyme - which brings us to the phrase 'attitude of gratitude'.

What a bloody brilliant way of living! An attitude of gratitude. A special Ironman friend of mine first introduced me to this way of thinking. I used to regularly chat to him about my various athletic events I was undertaking, and I also used to complain fairly regularly about the training (to an ironman. A competitor in one of the hardest multisport events there is. Facepalm). He said to me 'turn it around. Every time you get that niggle in your head think

'I get to do this'

I get to do this. Not I HAVE to do this. But I get to. Absolutely revolutionary.

How many people out there don't get to do the wonderful things we grumble about every day? How many people don't have the capacity to train daily? How many don't have families to prepare tea for? How many would desperately love a baby to get up to in the middle of the night?

When you feel that wee gremlin groaning in the back of your brain, try to quieten him down with the thought 'I get to do this'.

I try to practise an attitude of gratitude every day, and another way I do this is by having a checkpoint and thinking of three things that have happened so far that I'm grateful for (I did this publicly for a few days on my Instagram stories, and it was really cool when others responded with their gratitudes!). They can be big things, or small things, but seeking out these little nuggets will help put a golden shine on the rest of the day.

Right this minute I'm grateful for

- The perfectly cooked steak I had for tea

- My beautifully warm new house that is surrounded by trees and birdsong

- Wonderful friends that have been supportive this week

I would love to know how others practice an attitude of gratitude!