In the month before my 40th birthday, I ran a little experiment to see if a daily gratitude practice would help me get out of a funk. Maybe it was the 2-Year Pandemic blues, but this past March, a heaviness settled on me and lingered there. With the weight of war, mass shootings, Supreme Court rulings, and record high heat, I felt lonely and depressed.
So, inspired by the “woo”-rific book Thank and Grow Rich by Pamela Grout, (with her nod to Napoleon Hill of Think and Grow Rich ), I decided to try texting a short list of 3 blessings to a group of friends every day for 30 days. I sent out a call, and about a dozen of my friends were game. Within the first couple days, several of them started responding with their own list of gratitudes.
We celebrated daily blessings big and small: Oregon strawberries, favorite authors and activists, hummingbirds, morning coffee, new homes, successfully getting grumpy six-year-olds out of the house and watching them finally smile.
Receiving those texts started to become the best thing about my day. They brought a little boost of good news to help balance out all the bad. And as the weeks passed, I noticed a deeper shift: writing and receiving these lists primed me to look for loveliness, delight, and joy. My lists were full of sensory pleasures and natural beauty, little bits of magic all around me. By the time I sent my last text, the day before my birthday, I was feeling pretty damn lucky.
I loved this experiment so much, that I’m running it again, and this time, I want you to be part of it! It’s going to be even bigger this time; it’ll take us all the way to the end of 2022! Join me for:
100 Days of Magic
Starting on Friday, September 23rd, I will post a daily list of 3 delights to a private group in my online community Mother Den every day for 100 days. I invite you to join and post lists of your own!
You are welcome to join me in posting everyday, or just occassionally as your mood, schedule, and energy allows. (If you haven’t downloaded it yet, I recommend getting the Mighty Networks mobile app, so you can dash off a quick list on the go.) Or, you can just join the group to read all the lovely things people are celebrating—you don’t need to post at all!
Imagine what life might feel like if you receive and add to this little daily dose of good vibes and delight. I suspect that we’ll go into 2023 feeling pretty magical.
Oh, and it’s totally free.
Click here for instant access to 100 Days of Magic in the Mother Den community.
Danielle LaSusa Ph.D. is a Philosophical Coach, helping new moms grapple with what it means to make a person. She is the creator of The Meaning of Motherhood course, and co-creator and co-host of Think Hard podcast, which brings fun, accessible, philosophical thinking to the real world. To join her mailing list, subscribe here.
© Copyright Danielle LaSusa PhD, LCC, 2021. All rights reserved.
