LIFSTYLE // The Only News Feed You Need To Be Filling; GRATEFUL App

How 'Grateful App' is changing the way I think about my day and document it.

This isn't an advert but I am encouraging you to buy a product.

Over the summer I listened to some very insightful podcasts and audio books from the likes of Georgie Crawford, Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Brené Brown. One very strong theme throughout was gratitude. Now we have long practised daily gratitude with the children during our bedtime prayers where we take turns to say what we are thankful for each day. We would recognise special things, but more often then not it becomes a repetitive list of daily happenings; seeing my friends, seeing my family, nice food to eat, etc. In a way you recognise how similar days become instead of really focusing on a certain moment with a friend, we naturally generalise it for ease.

There is no problem with this within our family prayers, in a way it is the habit of being thankful that is the core component that we want to instil in our children. That said, we as people really do need to learn to focus on the little things to help us truly appreciate moments that happen in our day to day.

We all know how busy life can be but this summer we should have all been able to recognise how simple we can make it for ourselves. Even as our diaries begin to fill back up, it is important to keep ourselves grounded in what should have been our learning this summer; the simple joy of life.

I have put some big changes into practice in my thoughts for recognising each day and its activities. One of them is trying not to think about what's coming; what the future may hold. The second is really living in the day; filling my time well. The third is focusing on myself to help me recognise 3 main things; love, patience and kindness.

These practices are at my forefront to living well right now. As we hit this Indian summer weather and as each day starts with a sunny sky it seems right to be living consciously of whatever I put in, I will get out. The above speakers all mention, multiple times, how important living a grateful life is. I obviously sat and agreed with them as I listened thinking about our current own practices; but all the women more consciously wrote down their gratitude or really pondered on it more than I had ever being doing. On August 8th I downloaded an app called GRATEFUL, paid for unlimited access and started documenting the things I was grateful for each day. This app can really be tailor made to you. There are settings you can change to have different prompts each day to encourage you to write but I have mine set simply on "What I'm Grateful For". It is one of the only app notifications I have set to 'ON' to help me stop and focus each evening and write on. The way it displays is a long list, just like a Facebook news feed but it is only filled with your daily entries. What's even better is you can attach a photo to each day so as far as scrolling goes you are reminded of the most wonderful small moments that can easily have been forgotten about.

This app not only lets me recall my day, even if it is one where I have felt down, there is always something to still be grateful for but it is a constant reminder of living day by day and that is a reminder I need.

I have included some photos of my news feed to help you see what it looks like but I must encourage you to buy it for yourselves. It is a timely reminder that life can be good, should be lived well, and should be lived presently.