In the spirit of gratitude

Are we grateful because we have a good life?
Or do we have a good life because we are grateful?

Gratitude has been shown to re-wire the brain, changing how we see and experience the world. No matter what is going on in our lives and in the world, we can always find things to be grateful for, not as a way to dismiss real suffering and hardship, but as a way to say AND.

There is suffering AND we can experience gratitude.
We aren’t 100% satisfied AND we have much to be grateful for.
We work hard for a better world AND are grateful for how far we’ve come.

This weekend, as we make space for gratitude, we invite you to reflect on what it might look like if we were all a bit more grateful - not just internally, but sharing it with those around us.

The journey of gratitude might even take us a bit further than we originally imagined, like it did for AJ Jacobs and his morning cup of coffee.

Gratitude from our hearts

Some of us at Clevertech took some time to reflect on what we are thankful for - here’s a few notable shares:

Highly skilled teams. Fully remote culture.

Creating a gratitude practice

There are many ways to create a gratitude practice. Best is always to start simple.

1. Make a list of three things each morning or at the end of the day. The more specific you can make them, the better. Rather than saying “my health, my family, my job” try to include details that are special to YOU. “I had enough energy to throw the football with my son at the park. Making Christmas ornaments with my daughter. Two colleagues at work who reached out to see if I was ok after a hard day.” —> Making the gratitude specific increases the effect it has on our brains.

2. Tell other people why you are grateful for them. Giving someone a compliment works two ways - it trains our brains to look for what is good AND it gives us happy endorphins when we know we have made someone else’s day. *disclaimer, only do this authentically, people can tell when you are giving and obligatory compliment, but if it’s authentic, it will do wonders for you and the other person.

3. Do the coffee challenge. When you experience something lovely, a sunset, a great movie, a good meal, challenge yourself to think of all the people who contributed to that experience. Begin to notice how interconnected we are and how valuable all of our efforts are when we live and work together.

We’d love for you to share what you are grateful for - and how you incorporate a gratitude practice in your life. Has it had a profound effect on how you work and live?

We believe a spirit of gratitude keeps us humble, hungry and hopeful for the future.