Gratitude: Finding Magic in the Everyday

Gratitude is more than just writing down what you're thankful for—it’s a mindset shift that can change your life. In this episode of Mystic Mom, Krystie shares how to move beyond basic lists into real, meaningful moments of appreciation that boost your mood, support healing, and deepen your connection to yourself and your kids. Simple, honest, and powerful.

Transcript

welcome to Mystic Mom, where we dive into the extraordinary spiritual bond between parent and child. I'm your host, Krystie, and today's episode is about gratitude. 

What is gratitude and why is everyone always stressing the importance of it? First off, gratitude has been used in modern psychology as a way to alleviate depressive symptoms. When someone is in the throes of their depression, their brain has tunnel vision for pain and negativity and has a difficult time seeing any positives or being able to experience joy. It's the opposite of rose colored glasses, while at any point of our lives there are good and bad positives and negatives in a depressive episode, it can feel near impossible to see or feel any type of good. Studies found that someone practicing gratitude lists actually helped rewire their brain to be able to recognize more positives in their lives by actively looking for things to be grateful for, their brain neurons changed and resulted in less depressive symptoms. Obviously, this varied based on the severity of depression and other factors such as medication, support and therapy. It is amazing to see how gratitude actually has the power to change certain biological systems. It is a natural way to create more serotonin and dopamine if we expand the power of gratitude to New Age manifestations. It is believed that coming from a place of gratitude hires your energetic frequency and vibration if you are attempting to manifest but are coming from a place of lack, such as, I need a raise because I don't have enough money, or I need to meet someone because I won't feel good about myself until I'm in a relationship that is coming from a lack need energy, which is low frequency, in which the universe usually responds with showing us that we don't actually need the thing that we think we do. Coming from a gratitude, abundance mindset and manifestations, looks like I have all the money I need and want more to be able to further my career and passion, or I'm whole on my own and want to meet someone to experience deeper love and companionship. It comes from a place of wanting the next thing, but also knowing you're okay without it. It is not from a desperate energy, but from a grounded abundance mindset, which is why practicing gratitude before manifesting is so important. We usually feel like we need more money, more time, more options, but when we sit with looking at all of the things we already have, we realize a lot of it is a falsity. We have what we need, but it's great for us to want and know that we are worthy of more. So what is a gratitude list? A gratitude list is when you identify three things you currently have that you are grateful for, then the next day, you identify three new things, no repeats. You can do this in your head, or you could speak it out loud. However, I do think there is something very powerful about writing it down, not typing it in your phone, but pen to paper, using a journal to write this out every day, what usually ends up happening is the first few days are easy. I'm grateful for my family, for my health, for my house. Then it gets tricky. After you use the obvious ones, it gets to a point where you start thinking of things like, I'm grateful for running hot water, or I'm grateful for toothpaste or Starbucks. It builds that gratitude muscle when I taught this practice to a college class, someone stated they became grateful for a certain street in their neighborhood because they were able to go to their bank, their coffee shop and home all in one place, which may sound strange, but how many things do we take for granted before recognizing it a little trick if you are having hard time thinking of things to be grateful for, is to think of something that could go wrong and then be grateful that it didn't happen. For example, if you thought that you may get a flat tire and then you would be late for work, change that to being I'm grateful I have four functioning tires on my car right now. Or if I spilled my coffee all over my laptop, it would destroy years of work and would be an added expense. So it turns into I'm grateful for a smooth morning. Some of us have an easier time identifying what can go wrong instead of what can go right. So this is just a way to use that to your advantage. Going deeper into your gratitude is actually very easy with this. Let's say something on your gratitude list is your child being grateful for your daughter or your son? I want you to zone in on a moment that brings you joy with them, not just thinking of them in this like umbrella way, but really thinking of a memory such as, I'm grateful for my son's morning hugs. I'm grateful for the sound of my daughter's laughter. I'm grateful to see my child's excitement when we are at the park, pushing yourself to go into the experience you have with them helps you feel that happiness all over again, and also helps you recognize all these little blessing moments that we overlook. This can be applied to your spouse, your partner or your friends. Also, it can be feeling grateful for the safety or non judgment that you feel with a friend. It can be feeling grateful for the support and laughter that you receive from your spouse, even with work, if you're in a situation where you're not in love with your job right now, maybe identifying the support that it brings you financially or the challenges that it brings you, the more specific that you get, the more you're building that muscle. Also the more that you sit with it, the higher the dopamine hit and energy frequency. This process also helps you recognize these moments as they are happening in the moment. Once you start the process of a gratitude practice, then when you're vibing to a fun song in your car or having a pleasant moment but someone you are able to recognize how special it is, and your brain takes a mental note of it. As you move along in this practice, you'll start to experience moments of spontaneous gratitude, where not only are you feeling lucky and blessed by your current situation, but also for past experiences and maybe even past struggles or hardships we become grateful for our challenges, our strength, and can see how some incredibly difficult times may have led us to some of our greatest blessings. It becomes a complete mindset shift. Another type of gratitude practice, in addition to a gratitude list is identifying one positive experience you had during the day, even on the days where it feels like nothing happened. Pushing yourself to think about it in more detail can help you identify that you had a delicious meal or laughed at a funny TV show. It helps you identify these moments further. Gratitude also has the power to create bonding experiences with others in your life. I recommend to couples all the time to share the gratitude list, either in the morning or at night together. It takes only a few moments, but also offers the opportunity for such sharing and connection. You can also do a version of this with your children based on their age. It can be called identifying a high low of the day, or a rose and a thorn. It can also just be called a happy list, where we ask our child, what are some things that make you feel happy? They can draw it, write it, or speak it. Even when my daughters were babies, I would vocalize gratitude lists for myself and for them during a bedtime routine. So get creative with it. You can make it your own in a way that works for you and also for your family. Gratitude isn't just a feeling, it's a practice that rewires your brain, shifts your energy and opens you up to abundance. Thank you for listening and make sure to subscribe or leave a review to help this reach other spiritually attuned moms, until next time, love, heal and live. Mystic mom,