start monday with gratitude

week 3

Welcome to Week 3, 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.

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude

Cynthia Ozick

video transcript

It’s easy to feel grateful for the big moments and events in your life such as your well-earned promotion and recognition for the work you have done, for the confirmation of a clean bill of health after you had a recent health-scare, for the phonecall from a loved one living in a country that has just experienced natural disaster, calling to say they’re safe.

When the big things happen, it’s natural to feel grateful. Because the big things stand out, they don’t happen every day and, when they do happen, they have an equally big impact on you.

But what about the smaller things in life, the everyday things that you get to experience each and every day. Just because they’re small, just because they’re ‘normal’ does that mean we should take them for granted and forget to express gratitude for them?

Let’s look at it from another perspective.

What are some of the small things in life, the little every day normal things in life that you take for granted? Such as the roof over your head, the comfy bed you sleep in every night, the food on your table, the clothes that keep you warm (or cool), a friend’s listening ear or shoulder of support, your family who will be there for you when you need them.

What would happen if they suddenly disappeared? What would happen if even just one of them disappeared from your life? Your life simply wouldn’t be the same. In the blink of an eye, life would become a struggle. Right?

And yet, how often do you express gratitude for the everyday things that you have in your life? How often do you express gratitude for the things you take for granted? I’m guessing, rarely. Because they’re just there, right? They’re always just there.

Does it make sense, however, when you consider life without these little things, the things that are forever present and that you take for granted; does it make sense to not be grateful for them when, because without them your life would be immediately turned upside down?

When we look at them from this perspective, from the perspective of losing them, it kind of brings everything back into perspective and it reminds us that we truly should be grateful for everything we tend to take for granted because, should they suddenly be removed from our life, our life, our very being, will be devastated, our life will crumble around us.

And, so, we should remember every day to not take for granted the small things in life, the everyday things, the constants. They deserve our gratitude because without them our life would be completely upturned.

daily gratitude practice

This week is a week of 5’s. Every day I’ll invite you to think of 5 small things.

Today I invite you to think of 5 small everyday things you always take for granted and express gratitude for them.

Think of 5 things in your life that, if they disappeared tomorrow, would turn your whole world upside down.

Express your gratitude for them.

Think of 5 things that you are grateful for in your job, work-life or career, that you don’t often think about or give gratitude towards.

Express gratitude for them.

Think of 5 things from your homelife, be they in your home or in your relationship, that you know you take for granted and express gratitude for them.

Think of 5 people who are part of your everyday life, without whom you’d feel lost.

Express gratitude for them and express gratitude to them.

Think of 5 things that you were grateful for when they first came into your life but which you now take for granted.

Express gratitude for them.

Now you’ve had practise thinking of 5 small and different things each day and for which you have practised gratitude, we’re going to end this week with something a bit more challenging.

Today I invite you to think of 5 small things you took for granted and rarely, if ever, expressed gratitude for; 5 things that you lost, that you stopped receiving.

How did your life change?

What impact did their disappearance from your life have?

Express gratitude that these 5 things were once a part of your life.

and let's not forget...

Will you embrace this beautiful new day with this week's high vibe tune?

dance to this week's high vibe tune here

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.

“We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude” ~ Cynthia Ozick

16:9

16:10

4:3

mobile

how to download your wallpaper

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

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'.

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.