An Attitude of Gratitude

Gratitude is a big thank you note to our ourselves, those around us, our envrionment, and all the little things in between. A few weeks ago, I got to teach a yoga class on gratitude to our medical school class! The night before class, I spent time journaling multiple pages in my Passion Planner (10% off code at the end of this post!) and this post is dedicated to that reflection on gratitude. Before hopping into it, I wanted to give a huge thank you to Johannah, the owner of MPower Yoga, for extending her lovely yoga studio space for us to use.

Over the past five years, I’ve been writing in a gratitude journal, where I list out a few things that I’m grateful for each day. This simple habit was formed in a college class I took and later taught called “The Happiness Advantage.” In this class, we completed four 21-day “challenges” to create new habits—21 days of meditating, keeping a gratitude journal, performing acts of kindness, and committing to any practice that brings us joy.

I just finished reading the book Atomic Habits and have been constantly reminded of how impactful it is to develop daily habits in our lives. When our lives get busy and stressful, we fall back on our habits. As a result of the happiness class, I’ve been able to keep up my mindful and gratitude practices everyday in medical school. Out of these routines, gratitude was always a fan favorite in our class and my co-facilitator/bestie Allie and I have practiced it in our friendship as our own little love language. Gratitude builds positive connections with others and ourselves.

Through a daily consistent gratitude practice, I’ve learned that we can’t control what happens in our lives, but we can always control how we respond to different events. Regardless of the type of day I’ve had, this practice gives me the space to take a step back and find joy for the challenges, small things, and growth.

I rely on my Passion Planner so much for creating a healthy work-life balance, as a space to move my thoughts onto paper, and as a platform for scheduling wellness rituals into my academic routine. Feel free to use my code to take 10% off your order (code: ANJALIA723) and share it with your family and friends. It’s a great gift for the holidays! I’ve found so many benefits using it in different phases of my life—throughout college, during my gap year job and travels, and now in my first two years of medical school.

Gratitude is a lovely journaling practice that can transform our mindset, state of being, and relationships. It was such an honor to share this intention through yoga—another practice that’s near and dear to my heart—and to take even more time afterwards to share it now. I’m grateful for all of you for reading this far, and for all of your love and support!