It’s week three of the Mindful Moments Slow Experiment, and today’s episode is all about gratitude as a tool for mindfulness. For Ben, the importance of cultivating gratitude has been one of the biggest lessons he’s learned from slow living. For Brooke, gratitude is an invaluable way to prevent that shift into negative thinking that can happen when life is busy or stressful. It’s a practice that can take just a minute or two in your day, but have incredible benefits for your life. So let’s dive in!

First up, the guys break down exactly what gratitude is, and identify that it’s the specific kind of thankfulness that they’re focusing on, not the rose-coloured glasses approach to life. They then share some different examples of gratitude practices: a gratitude journal, having a chalkboard in the kitchen where everyone in the house writes one thing they’re grateful for everyday, writing a thank you note, using technology, loving-kindness meditation, sharing at the dinner table and more. These techniques help us to be mindful as they require us to shift out of autopilot and pay attention to and engage with what’s around us, and be thoughtful about what we have to be thankful for.

They then go on to look at the benefits of gratitude, which are vast. From developing love, compassion and empathy to helping us sleep better at night, there are so many benefits for our physical and mental health. Grateful people feel fewer aches and pains, feel healthier (and generally are healthier), and are more likely to exercise regularly, get regular checkups with a doctor and live longer (say whaaaat?!) It’s also the antidote to the build-up of toxic emotions, and helps to build resilience, perspective and self-esteem. Brooke shares that gratitude helps her to really savour the good moments, and allows them to be the bits of her day she remembers, rather than the less-amazing times.

So give it a try - connect on Facebook and Instagram by sharing one thing you’re grateful for this week, using the hashtag #slowexperiment.  And go from there. To read more about the episode, head over to http://slowyourhome.com/256/ for all the links and resources mentioned, as well as the full blog post. 

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