Cultivating a healthy spirit is a life long journey.

And staying positive about your life is a life long conversation.

When we work to achieve these pieces, we move towards a balanced and healthy connection with our soul. And this is essential during those peak times in the year where your stress levels are exceedingly high. (Think: back to school night, getting your classroom set up in time, report cards writing, balancing work and home life…You know what I mean!)

Practicing gratitude on a daily basis creates more space for you to see the miracles happening all around you. For example, no matter how you reading this – computer, iPad, phone, even printed out on paper – they are ALL true miracles that we get to take part in every single day.

The more you can appreciate, first, what is in you, the more you begin to see it in others. Remember the allure of teaching? All the *pros* of working with students, and colleagues, and growing together? That takes precedent over the stress and worry when you create even just the smallest space for gratitude.

Try this: Start a Gratitude Journal

Set an alert on your calendar and begin your day by making a list of all the things that you are grateful for in your home life, and work life. Once you write down the list, read over it and let your heart truly give thanks for each item you listed.

You can give thanks for the fact that you have a job that gives you an income, be thankful for the car you have that takes you to work, the roof over your head, the bed you sleep in, the fridge you have with with food to nourish you, the wonderful coworkers you have, the supportive partner in your life, your creativity… And so on.

I love keeping a gratitude journal because whenever I write down all the things I’m grateful for and see my huge list I can’t help but smile and feel so fortunate to have so much! I also found over the years, especially as a principal that whenever I wrote about being grateful for my *tricky* teachers or demanding parents I found that my attitude shifted, and that opened up the experience to be so much more than negative. By focusing on the positive aspects of these negative situations I was able to let go and realize they were there to teach me a lesson I needed to learn about myself. Interesting, huh?

Just imagine waking up one day to only find the things that we were grateful for! Changes things doesn’t it?

So I am very grateful for you today for trying this tip and I hope it transforms your life in the way it has done to mine and I would love to hear about it!

Alejandra
xx