The Four A’s of Gratitude
I have tried gratitude journals. They don’t work for me. Writing down a few things I’m grateful for each day somehow makes me feel worse. I’m a thankful person, I think; but that deeper sense of gratitude seems to elude me for some reason. I guess I’m kind of afraid to accept that things are good in my life. Maybe I’m afraid of going into denial about the stuff that’s hard. Honestly, this exercise makes me feel bad about feeling sad or angry or whatever “ungrateful” emotion I’m feeling at the time. As I thought about this I stumbled upon the concept of The Four A’s of Gratitude. There are a couple of versions out there and I’m not sure where it all originated from, but this idea resonated with me. The four A’s are: Awareness, Acknowledgement, Appreciation, and Action Awareness Wake up! Many of us are sleepwalking through life. In our busy lifestyles, we have the “to do” list running constantly in our minds and we plow through our day to check things o...
