Over the years, I noticed that I wasn’t feeling grateful until I was literally forced to—and usually that occurred when something bad happened.
To end this cycle, I started observing a “Mincha Moment”—a time when I would stop everything I was doing and take time to be grateful for all that I had. I like the idea of setting up a time—I’ve been doing this at 2:30 pm every day for many years now (I don’t remember why I chose 2:30 pm, but I used to have an alarm on my running watch that went off—now I have Art Garfunkel singing “Grateful” on my iPhone).
You can pick any time that works for you. However, if it’s not formalized, the time seems to slip away and another day goes by without thinking about everything you’re so blessed to have.
This idea of purposefully taking some moment of the day to think about all the things you are grateful for didn’t originate with me. According to Jewish tradition, people are required to offer specific prayers called berakhot (blessings) 100 times a day.
If 2:30 pm doesn’t work for you, then pick another time—but do it—every day!
Today we remember Elizabeth of Hungary, renewer of society, who died 1231. This message was adapted from the July 2012 Café article, Practicing Gratitude, written by Debra Gonsher Vinik.
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