Gratitude Can Transform Your Parenting – And Your Life!
Written By Marsha Austin
Transformation. It’s a word we hear all the time in workshops, self-help books and spiritually-minded circles. Yet, unless we’ve experienced severe shock or trauma, transforming our lives is a lot easier said than done. I’ve found that after years of spiritual seeking – and I’ve done a gazillion workshops, trainings, retreats and programs, and even owned my own yoga studio – no matter how much I willed myself to change, getting my thoughts, words and actions aligned to create lasting transformation was frustratingly elusive.
Then, I found my way to an accountability group with a heavy focus on gratitude. The practice goes beyond keeping a gratitude journal. The power in this gratitude practice is that it’s shared with others and if I miss a day, someone will let me know about it!
LISTEN TO THE SOUL PATH PARENTING EPISODE HERE
I film daily video messages to a large group of women saying everything I’m grateful for, and then I listen to all of their messages about what they are grateful for. The next step in my practice is to tell the people in my life what I’m truly thankful for about them. I do it every day. I include at least three people and at least three things per person that I’m grateful for or appreciate.
Present to all that gratitude, I’ve started seeing the things I’ve take for granted and the things I’ve chronically complained about as blessings.
After several months, I can truly say that this gratitude practice has completely transformed my career, marriage, friendships and parenting.
LISTEN TO THE SOUL PATH PARENTING EPISODE HERE
What I’ve come to realize is that my external world wasn’t “wrong” or causing me stress. I no longer get wrapped around the axle about not being able to fix, change or control the people and situations around me. What I’ve learned by daily practice is that my own perspective was the primary cause of my unhappiness.
A concrete, tangible, consistent gratitude practice with the accountability of a group, enabled me to completely shift my way of viewing and experiencing my world. I was finally able to “transform” every area of my life.
As Soul Path Parenting Co-host Lauren Coglianese Keck says in Episode 46: Transformation: Powerful Possibilities for the Stories We Tell and the Lives We Create, “Wait a second, this seeing the world this way isn’t working for me. It doesn’t match what’s inside me. Are these glasses? Do they come off?”
Here are few of the gratitude statements that I’ve been practicing daily that have allowed me to take off the glasses that were causing strife in my immediate family. I also turn these statements into direct appreciations for the person that I’m grateful for:
I am so grateful for this time with my daughter (after school every day). I know that it won’t last forever, and I want to soak it up while I can.
I am so grateful that I have a job that allows me to set my own schedule, work from home, pick my daughter (age four) up from school every day, and spend time with her in the afternoons.
I am grateful that my daughter is so verbally advanced for her age. What a delightful companion she is, and what a gift I am given to be taken with her on her flights of fancy and unique observations of the world around us.
I am grateful that I get to be a mom. What a privilege and opportunity to learn and grow together with my daughter and my husband.
I am grateful that I get to be married, and that I get to be married to my husband.
I am so grateful for the many little things that my husband does every day to make my life happier and more easeful.
I am grateful that I’m married to such a kind, brilliant, hard-working and generous man.
I am grateful that I have the tools to know when I’m trying too hard to control my child or husband, and can let go and focus on what I can control instead – my thinking.
I invite you to practice gratitude with an accountability buddy or group and see how changing the pair of glasses with which you view your world can completely transform you and everyone around you. The best part is, they don’t have to do a thing. They don’t even need to know you’re doing it. What they will notice is that they feel affirmed, safe and appreciated, and chances are they’ll start naturally following your lead until your family culture has completely shifted too.
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Author: Marsha Austin
Marsha is an award-winning journalist, content marketer, entrepreneur, and mother to a preschool-aged daughter. She loves diving deep into spiritual practices, while maintaining a light heart, and self-effacing sense of humor.
