Hey, ladies, welcome back for another episode of the Ashlee Jaine show, if you are new here, you are absolutely in the right place. If you are looking for a mindset, inspiration and motivation on how to become the very best version of yourself, that is all that I cover here on my podcast. I would love it if you are new and that really resonates with you. If you would hit that subscribe button so that we can stay connected for all of my future and upcoming podcast episodes. In today's episode, I'm going to be talking about gratitude, and I feel like this is such a game changer in life. If you are not already incorporating practicing gratitude into your day to day ritual a you are seriously missing out girlfriend, but b your life is about to change. As soon as you start this, I promise you your world is going to be flipped upside down. So practicing gratitude started for me. Probably. Oh my gosh, you know, I think I've been on this personal development journey for years now since, I don't know, 2013 ish is when I started, and it was probably closer to twenty fifteen when I really started to implement a lot of the things that I had been learning. Because let's face it, when you're on your personal growth or your personal development journey at the very beginning of it, you are always fighting yourself. There are always so many blocks and so many thoughts that you have to overcome that you have to literally battle yourself in your mind.

With that, it's hard. It's really hard to start implementing everything that you're learning. When you're still you still have half your brain telling you, Oh my god, this is so stupid. Why are you even listening to this? Like, do you really even believe that like, you're going off the deep end, what's happening here? Because our tendencies and our thought process is fear, right? Because that's what we're programed to do. We are programed to be safe. We are programed to not do things that are risky, not do things that are different. And you know, that's in our genetic DNA. So it's almost like you really have to rewire your brain to think positively and to think, you know, and practice gratitude and do all of these things that we learn along the way as we work on becoming the very best version of ourselves. So with all of that out of the way, if that's where you are right now, I feel for you because that is tough. It is so hard, especially when you don't have supporting family members or spouses or people around you who really get it. Yet like my husband was really late to the game. And still, even now when I say things, sometimes he looks at me like, I'm crazy and I'm like, You know what? Just trust me because we know that it works. Look at the success that I've created in my life.

Look at all of these amazing things that we have and that we can do because of this journey that I've been on. It's truly been life changing and practicing gratitude is one of the main components and the key factors of causing all of these things in our lives that we have and that we can do, and all of the greatness that I'm sure is to come. So with all of that said, I feel for you if that's the place that you're at in life and really, honestly, don't even hesitate to reach out to me. I'm happy to sit there and have a damn convo with you about this because I know those struggles. I know them all too well. But with all of that set and out of the way, we're going to start talking about gratitude because that's what this podcast episode is, and that is what we are here for. So before I dove into some actionable tips on how you can implement practicing gratitude in your day to day life, I really just want to throw out some very common quotes that you may or may not have heard before and really just emphasize the fact that this is all around you. This message of practicing gratitude is all around you. It has been present your entire life. It shows up in different shapes and forms. And really, the sooner that we recognize that and the sooner that we start rolling this out in our life, the better off we're going to be.

But you may or may not have heard things like, like, attracts like or what you think about you bring about or count your blessings, not your curses. Literally everything from like religion to just your day to day life and your interactions with other people. I know that you've heard the message of something along the lines of practicing gratitude, and the reason is because a it works and b it's one of the best practices that you can. Have in life to have a positive mindset and a positive outlook on life. So in the sense of if we're talking about the like attracts like and we relate it back to the power of gratitude, when you are saying what you're thankful for, saying what you're grateful for, whether you're saying it out loud or writing it down, which we'll get into here and a little bit. You are essentially going to be bringing that back to you. It's almost like a boomerang effect. So as you're putting that happiness and that gratitude and that thankfulness out into the world that is going to ricochet right off the universe or right off God's ears, whatever it is that you may believe in and that is going to come back to you two fold, maybe you're talking about how grateful you are for your health and how grateful you are for your family's health. And then next thing you know you're on this amazing fitness journey and you're reaching all of your fitness goals, whatever it may be, whatever it may look like for you, we all have different things that we're thankful for.

We all have different things that we're grateful for. But the point is this is something that you need to be doing, and that is just one example. Same with what you think about you bring about, because if you're putting out those happy thoughts, those thankful thoughts or even saying it out loud, you are bringing in more happiness, more gratitude into your life, more things to be thankful for. And so this is what I'm talking about. When I say that it's life changing, it's literally going to flip your world upside down. I see so many people and you probably know people like this that spend their entire life complaining. Making excuses like nothing is ever right. Nothing is ever good. Nothing is ever good enough for them. Therefore, they never experience true happiness. True gratitude. True thankfulness because they're not seeing the good and the things that they already have. So why on earth would God or the universe or whatever it is that you believe in? I really just want to be very inclusive with this because I know that we all have very different beliefs. Spirituality is a very personal journey, so trying to be all inclusive here. But why on earth would God or the universe then turn around and provide them with more things to be thankful or grateful for if they're not already thankful or grateful for the things that they have? It just doesn't make sense.

It's like they're expecting amazing things to come like they're going to win the lottery, but they're not happy or grateful or thankful for all of the monetary things that they already have in their life. So don't be that person if that person is you. Please send me a DM. Let's talk because we really need to flip the script here. You really need to focus on all of the things in life that you have going on, that you have not just tangibly, not just monetary assets, but literally you have so much. Just by being able to wake up and to breathe and to exercise and to spend time with your family, you have an abundance of reasons to be happy. You have an abundance of reasons to be grateful. So if that's you, I would just challenge you to really not focus so much on the negative and really just start focusing on the positive. This is a great way to really turn any day around. And actually, with that said, we'll just go ahead and start talking about the actionable tips that you can take away to really start implementing this practice into your life. And hopefully you are not like me and you don't wait like a good two three years to start rolling this out, because the sooner that you do it, the more amazing your life is going to get.

Ok, so speaking of the bad day, let's say you are having a bad day. Let's say it could be the worst day you could say you got fired from work or you've stubbed your toe three times and you know your day has completely went to shit. Whatever it may be, however extreme it may be, there is always something to be grateful for. Whether you got fired, let's say let's use that as an example. So think to yourself, Wow, yes, of course this sucks. What am I going to do? But then also explore the opportunities. I'm grateful for all of the lessons that I learned, you know, during my time here, I am going to take all of the skills that I have acquired and go out and find a better position that better suits me, that better suits my lifestyle, that pays more. Yada yada yada. You can always turn it around. You can always take that negative thing and turn it into a positive thing and express gratitude for that. Let's say you and your partner split. Ok, yes, that always sucks. It's always hard and it always hurts. You should definitely feel those feelings, but also be grateful for all of the lessons learned. I had a horrible relationship when I was younger, literally so bad, and I'm so thankful for it, and I would never take it back for anything because I learned so much. I learned everything that I didn't.

Want in a partner? And at the end of the day, as hard as it was to go through all of those things at the time, in the moment, the life lessons that came from that are worth so much to me because now I know I am wiser because of it. But these are just a few examples. And even if it's something small, let's say you just don't feel motivated. Let's say you just kind of have like a blood day. You can still find things throughout your day to be thankful for, even if it is something as small as going on a walk and being thankful for the sunshine and your time in nature. There are literally countless things that happen to you or that happen within you throughout the day to show gratitude for. And here's where the actionable tips come in. Now you need to set aside time, ideally daily, but you know, if not just periodically throughout the week, maybe at first, until you create a solid habit where you express this gratitude, where you either stop and think to yourself, Wow, I am so grateful for this opportunity. I am so thankful to be having this experience. I am so happy that I get to spend my life with this man or woman. Something as simple as just even having those thoughts really does something powerful within your subconscious that you may or may not even realize. But stopping to have that thought to yourself is powerful in and of itself.

But if you say it out loud or you write it down, that magnifies it tenfold. So I would encourage you. Maybe you're just thinking these things to yourself at first, but I would encourage you to really get in the habit of start saying those things out loud or setting a time aside to write them down. There are times when things happen to me, and I'm in the moment of something. Maybe it's taking my kids to Disney World and I will say out loud to my children and to my husband. I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to be here. I'm so thankful that we get to experience this together, and that's just an example of doing something in the moment. But each and every single day. I also set aside time where I will actually write down what I'm thankful for as well. And then every single night that we have dinner, we have a family dinner, usually Monday night through Thursday night, and we will sit down at dinner and we will all take turns saying what we're thankful for. Sometimes it's the very basics of family happiness, health, things like that. Other times it's more, you know, extravagant things. Or maybe we have a relative coming to visit us, whatever it may be, something that's going to happen in the future or the next day or that happen to us that specific day. But we take that time to say it out loud then.

But I also have a routine for myself that I like to do in the morning time. Sometimes I don't get to it in the mornings and I'll just do it in the evenings, but I actually have on my notes app, on my phone. Nothing fancy. I don't have a gratitude journal, although you can definitely get one if you want to go that route. But I literally just have an ongoing list in my notes of things that I am thankful for. And again, sometimes it's things that happen to me in the moment. Sometimes it's things that happened to me earlier that day. Sometimes it's things that are going to be happening the following day or the following week, but I keep track of all of the things that I'm thankful for, and I actually write it down because again, it's more powerful. It's more magnetic, if you will. It's going to bring in more goodness and more things to be grateful for. If this is like a foreign concept to you right now, you probably think that I'm crazy, but I promise if you try this and you incorporate this into your life, you will see the results. Like, I don't know what science there is behind it, but it literally is life changing. You will start to see and have more experiences and opportunities and things to be thankful for, and you will just start to see so much positivity unfold in front of you and feel like such a different person.

So with all of that said, whether you are going big and you are writing it down, saying it out loud, things you were thankful for each and every single day, or whether you are going to start small and just think to yourself of things that you're thankful for, maybe three or four times a week, or maybe just in the moment as they happen, whatever it may be, just I would encourage you to just start, just start doing this. And again, if you're that person who can't think of anything to be thankful for, who only focuses on negative rather than all of the amazing things happening in their life. Please reach out to me because we need to fix that. We need to make sure that you have the right mindset because you have so much potential and there is a gap between the person that you are and the person that you want to become in order to bridge that gap. This is so critical. This is so crucial to start incorporating into your life. But with all of that said and out of the way, ladies, I just want to thank you for being here. Thank you for hanging out with me. Whether you're driving to work, whether you're in the shower, whatever it may be. Thank you so much for showing up and being one step closer to becoming the very best version of yourself. I will see you, ladies on the next episode.