Create Your Own Gratitude Station- #ThankfulThursdays

I have always loved greeting cards! An avid collector, my mother always knows to fill my Christmas stocking with blank stationary and writing utensils. Ah, the lovely feeling of crisp and clean office supplies!

The love language of the written word is a dying art, and I love sending personalized snail mail to my loved ones. There is ALWAYS something to be grateful for! For this edition of Thankful Thursdays, I wanted to revisit one of my favorite rituals and moving meditations- writing thank you letters!You will need- a small box or storage crate to keep all of your gratitude belongings in. I suggest repurposing something  you already have! Ideas: a basket, galvanized bucket, suitcase, hat box, purse, crate, shoe box, empty drawer or shelf. It really depends on how many materials you have!

All envelopes, stamps and cards that we own are in this milk crate, featured in the photos above and below. Thanks Jamaica for giving this metal wonder to us! It is an excellent idea to store all of your items in one place, Marie Kondo style. Always have stamps that bring you joy handy.When I am feeling anxious for long periods of time, I need rituals to activate a mental reboot. Disconnecting from my phone, staying home to clean the house, chopping vegetables, and writing are some of my favorite moving rituals that help me get out of a lull. My gratitude station is also one of these healing modalities I turn to.

There are days where I will be ridden with guilt. Guilt that my loved ones don’t know how much I care, guilt from overanalyzing, guilt from being a recovering people pleaser. Guilt for feeling guilty! Enough. I need to transfer this energy and refuel my soul. I need a DRISHTI shift, a perspective overhaul. I stop, drop, and reflect on who I am really grateful for. I truly shift my guilt to gratitude.

I reflect on who I appreciate most in that present moment. I write their names on an envelope FIRST, get out my favorite colored markers, and thank them. Sometimes words and poems, sometimes drawings and stick figures, I always have a warm and fuzzy feeling in my heart after I send mail.This week, I sent a special thank you to my parents, my best friend and our weekly coffee dates that I will never take for granted, and to everyone that has donated items to our collective. I received so many lovely books to use as refills for Free Little Libraries across San Diego. Click here to read more about my endeavors!

Set yourself up for success! I have always lived by the principle that the medium is the message. If the pen pisses you off, keep hunting til you find a pen that brings you joy. Don’t like the greeting cards you have? Donate them! Make your own with computer paper and creativity. Order cards that you love from local artists that bring you joy. Farmers markets, Trader Joe’s, and local book stores are great places to find inexpensive stationary to make your grateful dreams come true!

Pro tip- buy the card you would want to receive 🙂 Pick out what you want for yourself, and send it to others. Live a little, love a lot!