Love Your Life- February Challenge

Change takes times and it takes practice. Each month I have decided to work on creating lasting changes in myself, one habit at a time.

February’s Challenge

For the month of February, I’ve decided to work on

LOVING MY LIFE.

I have chosen to do this by creating the habit of gratitude -purposely looking for, noticing, and being grateful for all the things I love about my life. February is the month of love after all.

Why?

Why start and stick with a gratitude practice?

Feelings of gratitude have been known to release dopamine. Dopamine is a chemical in the body that sends feel good messages to the brain. These messages induce feelings of reward and happiness. When you think of things you are grateful for, the brain registers it as something you’ve earned, a job well done, and gives you “gold star” in the form of a dopamine hit. Every time you write down and focus on the things you love about your life and are grateful for, you brain will keep giving you these feel good dopamine “highs”, and because of them, eventually you will learn to focus on the positive and good things in your life, more so than the bad. This will become a habit. You will literally be rewiring your brain.

How?

This challenge is super easy to do. All you need is to buy a notebook.
It can be fancy and pretty, or a notebook from the dollar store. If typing is more your thing, designate a file on your phone or your computer to house your gratitude list.

Throughout the day, every time you think of something you’re grateful for, write it down. It doesn’t matter if you’ve already listed it. That’s fine. Write down any aspect of your life, happy or sad, that you are grateful for – loved ones, your body, your work, lessons learned, strengths you’ve gained, etc. You can write in list form, story form, or even draw pictures.

This notebook is for your eyes only, so you don’t worry about impressing anyone. Just make sure to write in it daily. If you have a tendency to get busy with life and forget, simply set aside five to fifteen minutes at the same time every day, such as first thing in the morning, on your lunchbreak, or right before bed, to do your gratitude writing. You might find it’s helpful to put this time on you calendar and/or to set a reminder alarm on your phone if you need help remembering.

Challenge

I challenge you do write something you are grateful for everyday for the rest of this month. It will take dedication to stick with it, but at the end of the month, I predict you will see a change in yourself and in your life.

There’s only one way to find out. Accept this challenge and see for yourself. It’s always easier when you have a support system, so, encourage others to do it with you. Share this challenge on social media using the hashtag #loveyourlifechallenge and tag me @ajoyfulyou.