With the holidays around the corner, is your life like every holiday commercial – filled with gratitude and joy and sparkles?

Or are you in a bit of a funk?

For a lot of people, the holidays come with all sorts of stresses: family, money, time, etc.

For a great example of this, just go shopping on Black Friday.

So, today, I want to talk about 3 simple ways to increase gratitude and joy.

I know for myself, when I practice consciously being more grateful, every other area of my life is more joyful and more fun – and that includes my business. 

1. Keep a gratitude journal.

Write down all the things you’re grateful for – and be sure to include the things we often take for granted – like having home, a car, food, health, etc.

You can choose to write in it daily or simply reread it and add to it whenever you find yourself a big down.

2. Filter your news.

How do you feel when you watch/read the news? Filled with hope? Angered? At a loss for what to do or how to help?

A little known fact about me – I actively choose to not watch the news on tv.  I feel things deeply and too often the news depresses me.

But we get the news from everywhere now – especially through social media and for me, especially through Facebook.

So, if social media is not adding to your joy, filter what you see on it.

If it’s coming from particular pages, you can either unlike a page, hide their posts, or unfollow them. 

If you find a lot of negative posts are coming from friends, you can unfriend them.  But if unfriending would mean more drama, simply unfollow them so their stuff doesn’t show up on your newsfeed. 

You can always choose to take a break from social media for a little while – just hopping on for your business.

And my favorite solution to help – follow and like pages that post positive and uplifting stuff.  For example, I love the Good News Network for exactly that reason.  

3.  How does it get any better than this?

Asking this little question is so small and simple, but can yield huge results. 

(Fair warning, I’m gonna get a little new agey/spiritual on you.  I think this is the first time I’ve shown this side of me on my blog.)

I am a big believer that the Universe is here to support us.

When you ask questions, you’re creating more possibilities because the Universe begins changing the energy based on what you asked. 

And this question is my favorite…

How does it get any better than this?

Have you ever said the opposite?  When something bad happens, have you ever said, “Well, how can this get any worse?” 

What tends to happen?  The Universe responds to what is being asked and a lot of times, it gets worse.

So, instead when good things happen, ask “How does it get any better than this?”
And when bad things happen, ask, “How does it get any better than this?”

Let the Universe conspire for you.  And then see what shows up.

Btw, this comes from Access Consciousness and their tools.  I have taken quite a few of their classes and was a facilitator for a few years.  The tools they use are totally weird and totally effective.  To learn more about Access, check out their website here.  

Action steps

1. Write down what you’re grateful for.
2. Filter your news and follow more of the positive and uplifting sites.
3. Ask ‘How does it get any better than this?”
4. And then I’d love to hear what you notice. Share it with me in my Facebook Group here.