start monday with gratitude
week 20
Welcome to Week 20, lovely soul.
Below you'll find the video and video transcript introducing you to this week's quote and musings.
Scroll further and you'll discover this week's daily exercises, high vibe tune, and downloadable wallpapers.
video transcript
When it comes to expressing gratitude, many people think they should focus on the big things, the unexpected miracles, the sudden fortuitous cache of abundance. It’s as if to be truly grateful you have to, and can only, express gratitude for those things that stand out; the miracles.
But miracles come in all shapes and sizes. And sometimes it’s the smallest of miracles, the things we take for granted, that we should be most grateful for. For, although often small, it’s these miracles that keep us ticking, that keep us smiling, every single day.
And yet, as they are everyday occurrences, we tend to forget to express gratitude for them. Rather we take them for granted.
But what would happen if one of your everyday miracles, the things you take for granted, suddenly disappeared?
What would happen if it never rained again? The soil would dry up and nature would begin to die. Lakes, rivers and oceans would dry out, killing the sea creatures, starving us of hydration. It would be too late to be grateful for the rain when there no longer is any rain.
What would happen if you lost your sense of taste? When you bit into an orange you wouldn’t be able to relish its freshness. An aromatic curry would become bland on your tongue. It would be too late to be grateful when your taste has gone.
What would happen if a loved one crossed over and you could no longer hear their voice? You could no longer pick up the phone and call them for a chat. You could no longer hear the sound of them laughing with joy. It would be too late to be grateful for the sound of their voice when you can no longer hear it.
Why leave it until it’s too late?
Express gratitude for all the tiny everyday occurrences that you’ve been taking for granted. And express gratitude for them every day. Because when you stop taking them for granted, and start expressing them with gratitude, you’ll never have to experience regret when it’s too late.
Gratitude is not always about the big things, the one-offs, the things that happen just now and then. It’s for the little things, the everyday occurrences, the things that are part of your life.
daily gratitude practice
monday
This week we’re going to consider each of the 5 physical senses, one by one and consider how life would be if we lost that sense.
Today we’re going to consider the physical sense of sight.
What would life look like if you lost your sight? What challenges would suddenly present themselves? What would you miss? What would you lose?
Get really imaginative with this.
Really drill down deep until you get to the stage that you truly wholeheartedly appreciate your physical sense of sight and will no longer take it for granted.
List at least 20 ways in which this would impact you.
tuesday
What about your physical sense of hearing? How would your life change if you suddenly lost your hearing?
What would you no longer be able to do? What would you miss hearing? What impact would sudden and unexpected hearing loss have on you and, perhaps, those around you?
List at least 20 ways in which this would impact you.
wednesday
Your physical sense of smell.
We often don’t think of our sense of smell and how important it is until we temporarily lose it when we have, for example, a cold.
But what if you lost your sense of smell and never got it back? How much would life change? How would that impact your daily life?
Also, don’t forget that the sense of smell and the sense of taste are closely connected.
List at least 15 ways in which this would impact you.
thursday
Speaking of the connection between smell and taste, imagine losing your sense of taste.
How would that impact your life? What changes would it bring with it?
Really get inventive with this.
Find impacts beyond the obvious, ones you may not have initially thought of.
Perhaps do some research on the internet to uncover more ways that this may affect your life and, perhaps, the lives of those close to you.
List at least 15 ways in which this would impact you.
friday
The final physical sense is the sense of touch.
What if you no longer physically feel anything.
How would that affect your life? What consequences would that bring?
Be imaginative, think outside the box, be creative.
What impact would the loss of touch have on your life?
List at least 15 ways in which this would impact you.
saturday
After this week’s exercises, can you see the impact on your life of losing something that you take for granted? Does that give you encouragement to express greater gratitude for the things you take for granted?
What connects each and every one of our physical senses is our body.
Work through your body from head to toe and express gratitude for each part of your body you have taken for granted.
Consider the importance of that part of your body, what it enables you to do and how life would look if it didn’t work optimally.
sunday
Today focus on an even bigger picture.
Today we’re going to focus on your health. All too often we take our health for granted until we lose it, or something goes wrong. And then we look back with sadness at what we have lost; we realise just how important our health has always been.
Today I invite you to think about a time when your health wasn’t at its optimal level. Perhaps you caught the ‘flu or a nasty cold.
What happened when you temporarily lost your health?
Looking back does the memory of this time encourage you to be more grateful for your health, something you won’t take for granted anymore?
And, what about if you have an illness that has been part of your life for some time and may be part of your life forever?
Can you remember when that illness wasn’t in your body? Can you remember when you were in optimal health? Can you see the difference that that illness made in your life?
Illness, whether short- or long-term, tends to be a warning from our body. It may be our body telling us to slow down, it may be our body encouraging us to make a change in our lifestyle before it’s too late.
However, more often than not, we ignore those messages until things get serious. In other words, until we lose our health, we tend to take it for granted.
Can you look back to a time when you fell ill, either short- or long-term and see what message your body was trying to give you?
The next time you get a message from your body, will you listen to it before things become serious?
Can you look at the messages your body sends you and express gratitude for its intelligence and its love for you, trying to keep you healthy?
and let's not forget...
This week's high vibe tune reminds us to give gratitude for everything we often take for granted
have gratitude wherever you go...
... with this week's gratitude quote wallpaper.
Note: details of how to download this week's wallpaper is provided below.
“Sometimes we should express our gratitude for the small and simple things like the scent of rain, the taste of your favourite food, or the sounds of a loved one’s voice” ~ Joseph B Wirthlin
16:9
16:10
4:3
mobile
how to download your wallpaper
desktop
Before copying one of the pictures below, you'll want to quickly check your screen settings because the worst thing you can do is use a wallpaper with an aspect ratio that differs from the aspect ratio of your screen.
The aspect ratio of a rectangle is simply the proportion between width and height. The most common are 16:9, 16:10 and 4:3. And it will be for these 3 sizes that I shall provide you with your free wallpaper.
To find your screen resolution follow this basic guide. Steps for your computer may vary slightly but I hope this will give you some guidance:
- Right-click the desktop and select Display settings.
- Scroll down until you see "Resolution" (you may have to choose an "Advanced" option)
- To find your aspect ratio, divide the width over the height. For example, if my resolution is 1920 x 1080 then I would divide 1920 over 1080 to get 1.778, which indicates a 16:9 resolution. Similarly, 1.6 indicated 16:10 and 1.333 indicates 4:3
- When you've calculated your screen's aspect ratio, go to the picture below that matches that size
- Right click on the picture and select "Set as Desktop Background"
- Choose whether to "Fill", "Fit", or "Stretch" your picture - if you've chosen the right size "Fit" will be your best option
- Select "Set Desktop Background" and you're done
android mobile
- First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down on it until you see a menu.
- From here, click the “Save image” tab, and it will begin downloading.
- The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by pressing and holding a blank area on your screen (meaning where no apps are placed), and home screen options will appear.
- Select 'add wallpaper' and choose whether the wallpaper is intended for 'Home screen', 'Lock screen', or 'Home and lock screen'.
- Another set of options will appear where you can choose where the photo you would like to use will be coming from, namely the Gallery.
- If necessary, crop the image to a suitable size. Once satisfied, simply click 'Done'.
ios smartphone
- First, save the wallpaper image to your phone by pressing your finger on the wallpaper image and hold down for about 2 seconds until a menu appears.
- From here, click “Save Image“, and it will begin downloading.
- The next step is to set this saved image as your wallpaper by, first, going to the 'Photos' app and selecting the wallpaper photo you've saved there.
- Click on the share icon on the lower left corner of the screen, then select 'Use as Wallpaper'.
- Then choose to set the photo as either the lock screen, home screen or both.
