by Elissa Habinsky, M.A., M.S.
For almost two weeks, I have been practicing a gratitude exercise. Each day, at around the same time, I write down one thing for which I am grateful. The thing may be large or small, the size does not matter. What does matter, however, is that I take note of it. As such, I have noticed that I am grateful for many things including, family, friends, health, and simple pleasures such as fresh fruit, nice weather and lazy weekend days.
While this particular activity nicely compliments an REBT approach. Specifically, I have noticed that it is more difficult to catastrophize and tell myself how terrible things are after I have just written down something for which I am grateful. Terriblizing and being grateful are incompatible and competing tasks. Thus, whenever I begin to think irrationally about a particular circumstance, I am quickly able to challenge that belief by reminding myself of that for which I am grateful. This has been particularly helpful and has led to an overall positive change in my thinking and feeling. It is often easy for us to think about that which is not going well, rather than turn our attention to all the good in our lives.
Therefore, although this gratitude exercise was only supposed to last for two weeks, I plan to continue to take inventory of the positives in my life and write down one thing each day for which I am thankful. Today, I am thankful for several professional mentors of mine who have made the past year an invaluable experience. Thank you tremendously.
