How to be grateful for the simple pleasures in life

How often do you stop to savour or appreciate life’s simple pleasures?

In the hustle of every day life, it’s easy to forget that there are so many things to be grateful for.

Even when you’re attempting to practise gratitude, it can be tempting to focus on the BIG stuff.

Yet, it’s the everyday little things that can make the biggest difference to the joy and fulfillment you experience.

So in today’s episode, I’m encouraging you to be grateful for life’s simple pleasures.

Watch or read below:

A gentle reminder

The other day, I was looking through some inspiring and motivational posts on Facebook (and those, by the way, are the only kinds of posts that I read on social media), and came across one that really resonated with me.

The post said, “Here’s to fresh coffee, sunshine, morning walks, good books and all the other simple but glorious pleasures of life.”

This post served as a reminder of all the simple pleasures that we have in life, yet often take for granted.

It got me thinking that if you want to feel content with life and comfortable in your skin, you need to spend more time being grateful for what you already have, not bemoaning what you don’t.

The benefits of gratitude

For me, having a regular gratitude practice is one of the tools that has helped most in learning to appreciate my life and my body.

And a gratitude practice is really simple. All you have to do is acknowledge what you’re grateful for each day.

When you can be grateful for the little things, you will experience more appreciation and joy.

When you’re focussing on the simple pleasures that make life that bit better, you also have less head space for negative thinking, especially about your body.

How to be grateful for simple pleasures

So if you find that you’re often caught up in negative thinking about your body or life, try being grateful each day for the simple pleasures.

You might begin or end each day listing out the simple pleasures you’re grateful for. And if you’re struggling to think of what those simple pleasures might be, here are a few ideas:

You might be grateful for:

♥ Your morning coffee/tea
♥ A tasty breakfast
♥ The sun shining
♥ A walk with your dog
♥ A brisk run
♥ The purr of your cat
♥ A hug from a family member
♥ Reading your book
♥ A piece of cake
♥ A hot shower
♥ The smell of flowers
♥ Watching birds hop around your garden

I hope that you get the idea! When you learn to be grateful for the simple pleasures in life, your desire to have ‘more’ or be ‘more’ will subtly diminish, because you already feel ‘filled up’ with life.

I’d love to know what simple pleasures you’re grateful for. Please leave a comment below.