Archive | 2:41 pm

A Guest Blog with Christy

8 Aug

Welcome back and Happy Friday!

This is a great day for me because for the second blog in a row, I don’t have to do anything. I can just sit back and read the words of a dear friend who is kind enough to do my work for me.  How great is that?

Christy Birmingham has graciously agreed to write today, so I’ll turn it over to my favorite poet from Victoria, British Columbia.

How to Write a Gratitude List: 5 Tips to Creating a Great One

cwGuest post by Christy Birmingham

A gratitude list provides a great way to offer your thanks to people or things around you, which hopefully helps you live life in a full and meaningful way. To write your own – and make it a great one – here are 5 tips:

1. Set Aside Regular Time

Make time on a regular basis, whether it’s once a day or once a week, to make of list of things you are grateful for. By incorporating the writing activity into your routine, you are more likely to keep with it and less likely to consider it bothersome.

2. Make the Decision to Be Grateful

Set your mind to being more grateful about your life, and you’re more likely to keep an amazing gratitude list! The reasoning here? You are more likely to go through your day with a positive outlook and pick out details from the day that made you happy.

3. Use All of Your Senses

Don’t just live your days halfway! When you go for the full experience by invoking all of your senses, you’re going to have richer details to fill your gratitude list. You’ll likely start to notice sights and sounds that you hadn’t even realized were there before.

4. Grammar Be Gone

Don’t worry about grammar, spelling or other language rules as you write. It’s okay to step outside the rules for your gratitude list as it’s all about helping yourself feel more alive than being correct in wording. Your focus, the reason why you’re writing the list, is to increase your positive outlook and that’s what’s more important here.

  1. Don’t Force it

If you’re not feeling in the mood to write a list today then don’t force yourself to do it. There’s no point in faking happiness as it will show right through your words and won’t help you feel better around you surroundings. Instead, give yourself time to relax and rejuvenate.

These are a few tips for creating a great gratitude list that hopefully will help you feel happier about your life than if you didn’t write it. Remember to enjoy your surroundings and yourself as life really does go quickly and there’s so much to be grateful for!

 

Christy Birmingham is a poet, author and freelance writer in British Columbia, Canada. Her debut poetry collection Pathways to Illumination is available exclusively atRedmund Productions. If you haven’t been by her blog Poetic Parfait yet, check it out. You can also find Christy on Twitter.

MY THANKS

What a great writing exercise, Christy!  Thank you my friend.

MORE ON TUESDAY

I’ll be back Tuesday and yes, I have another guest blogger on that day. Melanie from South Africa, will take over then.  This is like a magical mystery tour of writers all on one site. How cool is that?

Have a great weekend and thank you so much for joining Christy today.

Bill

“Helping writers to spread their wings and fly.”