Dealing with inner conflict
In a recent program a person asked, “How do I deal with the inner conflict of, 'I know I should do my gratitudes but I just don’t feel like doing them and in reality, it won’t matter that much if I put it off until tomorrow.' ?“
She’s right, it probably doesn’t matter much, if you let it slip just one day. But she knows the problem is that the delay ends up being more than one day. The temptation of the 1-day-delay rationale is very easy to fall into—like losing weight, going to the gym, or a myriad of other important, non-urgent things in our life, it’s so easy to postpone our gratitude practice.
While we know that the best time to build a gratitude practice is 20 years ago, don’t worry because the second best time to build a gratitude practice is today !
My answer to the inner conflict question—two things:
Find inspiration
Be accountable
On inspiration, do not think you have to do it alone. The notion that not having all the answers is a sign of weakness, is a falsehood that will lead you to being overwhelmed and ultimately to burn out. My simple advice is to find a community where you can consume (i.e. read or listen) other people’s gratitudes which will inspire you with fresh ideas and hope.
On accountability, in essence, I look at accountability as simply a reminder to oneself. While accountability might look like a notification from your phone, you are more like to follow through when you involve other people in the reminder. For example, we know that when you share an intention with someone else, you are much more likely of actually accomplishing it. Again, my simple advice is to partner up with someone you trust and share gratitudes with them—be gratitude buddies.
I double dog dare you to get a gratitude buddy and both of you join a community that shares gratitudes. Then commit to be active with each other in your community for the next 30 days.
