Over the last several months, I have to admit it’s been a struggle to know what to share on my blog. I really needed (and still need) to take the time to truly reflect on what it is I want to put out into the world because it’s been such an unstable time for many of us. But the reality is that my biggest inspiration over the last 5 years of blogging has been my clients, which I’m not seeing a lot of at the moment. So when I go to write, I start to journal and it becomes a litany of complaints that starts to feel like just a big dose of verbal diarrhea. And the last thing most of you need to read about is about my uncertainty when you are still very much in your own. 

Let’s face it, we’re surviving this year. What comes out of it will be a new light on and fresh perspective of where we want to be but in the meantime, it does feel like there is a darkness I can’t quite seem to brighten up the same ways I am used to. I came to realize that I let my light dim this year. After all that work I put into myself with my year of yin and building my business for the past 14 years. It’s not the first time I let my light dim, but it is the first time that I am trying to be still enough to understand why my wattage weakened so rapidly. Because I definitely don’t want to be in this dark of a place ever again. 

So I’m just going to say what we’re all feeling. A post about gratitude this year feels like a bit more of a stretch than usual. It’s not only a played-out theme that comes around to help promote a questionable holiday (I love thanksgiving food but the history of the holiday itself makes me uncomfortable celebrating anything) but it has also become increasingly difficult to find what I have true gratitude for. 

Growing up, I was a typical church-going kid that knew how to muster up things I was grateful for when asked on special occasions. My gratitude went to the lord, food, and my family. I never really thought about it, which is a statement that reeks of privilege, but it’s honestly how it was. It wasn’t until I learned about gratitude journaling from my queen Oprah that I realized how gratitude is a practice. Like many of you, I can become out of practice unless I am pressed to discuss around a dinner table full of canned cranberries and dried turkey. 

I can’t promise you that this post is going to resonate with your experience at this time, but I feel like I need to personally express my gratitude muscle since I’m not only out of practice. I know that it may inspire you to take a breath and reflect as well.

So I’m just going to say what we’re all feeling; A post about gratitude this year feels like a bit more of a stretch than usual. It’s not only a played-out theme that comes around to help promote a questionable holiday (I love thanksgiving food but the history of the holiday itself makes me uncomfortable celebrating anything) but it has also become increasingly difficult to find what I have true gratitude for. 

Growing up, I was a typical church-going kid that knew how to muster up things I was grateful for when asked on special occasions. My gratitude went to the lord, food, and my family. I never really thought about it, which is a statement that reeks of privilege, but it’s honestly how it was. It wasn’t until I learned about gratitude journaling from my queen Oprah that I realized how gratitude is a practice. Like many of you, I can become out of practice unless I am pressed to discuss around a dinner table full of canned cranberries and dried turkey. 

I can’t promise you that this post is going to resonate with your experience at this time, but I feel like I need to personally express my gratitude muscle since I’m not only out of practice. I know that it may inspire you to take a breath and reflect as well.

We all know what we’re not grateful for; the maskne, the uncertainty of the pandemic, the separation in our families, the anxiety-filled days that stretch so long they feel like months. I can keep going. I’m really good at seeing things that aren’t working but if I stay in that space too long, I start to carry an energy with me that is far too heavy for my fragile nervous system. Instead, I start by practicing gratitude in a more micro way and I’d love to share how I do that practice with you now.

Start by finding a moment of grounding each day before your skincare routine. Take 3 deep breaths and thank yourself for just showing up! 

Next, whether you are in the shower or at your bathroom sink, I want you to close your eyes and ask yourself 3 things you are grateful for about your skin. This can take a second to find but it’s important to get to 3 different aspects of your skin that you have gratitude for. Three is an adequate number to start exercising your gratitude muscle but feel free to elaborate on that number as often as you can. 

Some of my frequent skin gratitude thoughts include;

• I’m grateful for my skin communicating with me

• I’m grateful for my skin’s healing abilities

• I’m grateful my skin reminds me to drink water

• I’m grateful for my skin enveloping me daily

• I’m grateful for my skin’s ability to purge toxins

• I’m grateful my skin is growing with me

• I’m grateful my skin asks me to slow down

• I'm grateful for the skin I have and the reflection of health it shines back at me!

This is a practice I have honed in on for the past 10 years so it comes much easier for me than it may if you are just starting. Don’t worry, because closing your eyes during this practice will prevent you from nitpicking right away. Once you shift your mindset to gratitude, it allows you to start your routine with a sense of love towards your skin. That will allow you to navigate your routine with intuitive guidance to nurture and nourish yourself instead of fixating on the elements you’re not fond of. 

Lastly, as soon as I start to navigate through the steps of my skincare routine and touch my skin, I affirm those thoughts of gratitude by thanking my skin for communicating with me. “Thank you for reminding me to slow down and gently cleanse my skin” is a consistent thought that goes through my mind as I start cleansing and trickles through every step. I leave my routine with a higher sense of worth and gratitude for the experience to take care of myself. That energy that I put into a small part of my day then helps shift my mindset when I’m feeling less than or frustrated by life. I know I can also apply those same principles to other elements of my life which helps shape an even larger gratitude practice. 

BONUS ROUND - Gratitude journaling is also a massive way for me to find peace in my heart no matter the turmoil I’m faced with. Finding even the smallest things to be grateful for helps me build on a foundation of love instead of the shaky grounds of fear. I’ll write out I’m grateful for my bed, my sheets, my gua sha stone, my coffee mug, my husky’s snuggles, etc. 

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Having gratitude doesn’t erase the pain of this year nor does it solve all the problems, but it is a way of helping you navigate through life with a little brighter of light within yourself. That light then shines onto others who may need a bit of that spark to lead them out of their darkness. Start small and just keep at your practice. 

And if I don’t say it enough, thank you for reading this and supporting me. We may or may not know each other but your willingness to land on this page for a few minutes and read my innermost thoughts means the world to me. If you haven’t felt appreciated recently, I hope you feel it a little more now. You deserve to shine brightly and thank you for always honoring my light no matter how bright or dim it gets. Have a beautiful week and I hope you are safe and well. xo

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