Bloom

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“
More grows in a garden,
than the gardener knows
he has planted.
“
— Spanish Proverb
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
8 Introduction: What is Gratitude?
10 Chapter One: List Making
12 List One
14 List Two
15 List Three
18 Chapter Two: Gratitude Exercises
20 Exercise One
22 Exercise Two
23 Exercise Three
26 Chapter Three: Growing through Poetry
29 One Today
30 Blessings
31 A List of Praises
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INTRODUCTION
What actually
is Gratitude?
Here’s the short
and skinny:
According to the
Merriam-Webster
Dictionary, gratitude
is concisely defined
as “the state of
being grateful.”
Gratitude is simply taking the time to
think about all the positive things in
your life, rather than ruminating on
the negatives. It does not necessitate
actually telling anyone else you are
thankful for the things they have
done (although, that helps).
Having an attitude of gratitude
doesn’t cost any money —it doesn’t
take much time—and the benefits
are enormous.
You see, it is only sometimes about
sharing your gratitude with others.
More often, it can be an internal
thing. The daily practice of gratitude
usually involves taking a small bit
of time and thinking about all the
things you are grateful for. The
purpose of this book is to accompany,
teach and encourage you on the
journey of growing your gratitude.
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LIST ONE
List the things
that bring you joy.
Some examples may
be material things,
hobbies and activities,
other people and
pets, etc. Take time to
think about how these
things bring you joy.
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LIST TWO
List the things
that have made
you smile in the
last 24 hours.
Big or small, write
down as many as
you can think of.
This might help you
recognize things that
may have gone over
your head at the time
they happened.
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LIST THREE
List what you
are proud of.
These things can be
awards and outward
accomplishments
in your life; they
can also be your
personal qualities and
characteristics that
you appreciate as well.
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“Learn to be thankful for
what you already have,

while you pursue
all that you want.
”
— Jim Rohn
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EXERCISE ONE
The Power of
Positive Self-Talk.
What is it? It’s the
endless stream of
unspoken thoughts
that run through your
head; they can be
positive or negative.
Research on stress
management tells us
that some self-talk
comes from logic
and reason, while
some comes from
misconceptions you
create due to lack
of information.
How you talk to yourself in response
to your successes and failures affects
how you view yourself, and how you
think others view you as well.
Getting started: Listen and learn.
Spend time listening closely to your
inner dialogues. Use a journal or
some scrap paper to write down
important or frequent thoughts.
· Are you supportive of yourself?
· Are you critical or negative?
· Are there any common/
repeated thoughts?
· Would you say these thoughts
to a loved one?
Once you have a better idea of how
your inner thoughts are skewed,
switch gears and approach them
with positive self-talk. Use the negative
thoughts on your list and reword
them in a kinder, more positive light.
The next page shows some examples.
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Negative Self-Talk
I've never done it before.
It's too complicated.
I don't have the resources.
There's no way it will work.
It's too radical a change.
No one bothers to
communicate with me.
I'm not going to get better.
Positive Self-Talk
It's an opportunity to
learn something new.
I'll tackle it from a
different angle.
Necessity is the mother
of invention.
I can try to make it work.
Let's take a chance.
I'll see if I can open the
channels of communication.
I'll give it another try.
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EXERCISE TWO
Ask the question,
what if ?
This technique
involves focusing
on the surprisingly
good things in your
life that might have
never happened. A
different method of
focusing attention, it’s
a very powerful way to
create gratitude.
We are constantly examining how
our lives are going based on how
things might have been, how poorly
things were going in the past, how
things might be in the future and
how people around us are doing.
Sometimes these comparisons are
detrimental to our well-being, and
sometimes they are just the opposite.
The trick is to use them in a way that
makes them helpful. Spend some
time thinking about the
following points:
Imagine what your life would have
been like if you hadn’t taken a certain
life-changing path. Decisions such as
moving, changing or dropping out
of school, or taking a job to pursue a
new opportunity.
Try doing this two or three times
a day, each time bringing to mind
something about your life that may
have turned out differently. Afterwards
(or during), take time to reflect
on thoughts surfaced by this activity.
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EXERCISE THREE
Disrupt stressful
moments with
a smile.
You don’t always have
to clear time on your
schedule in order
to practice being
grateful; this gratitude
exercise can be done
in under a minute.
Life coach Kristi Ling teaches an interesting
practice; the three S’s: Smile,
say thanks and set an intention.
For the first S, Ling suggests cracking
a quick smile. Why? A smirk held
for longer than 17 seconds has been
shown to alter the brain’s chemistry
and trigger happy feelings, she says.
During your smile, take a crack at the
second S. Here’s where the gratitude
part comes in. Picture your favorite
foods, people or pleasures in your life.
Feel the positive transformation that
comes from shifting your mindset to
a place of gratitude. This will empower
your entire day, and the next S.
Finally, set a goal for your day. It can
be general, like planning to enjoy
your lunch, or specific, like thanking
a coworker or family member. A good
example is, “I intend to take excellent
care of my mind and body today,
and inspire others to do the same.”
If you’re still holding your smile from
the first S, you should give yourself
some bonus points.
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“Cultivate the habit of being
grateful for every good thing
that comes to you, and to
give thanks
continuously.
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And because all things
have contributed to your
advancement, you should
include all things
in your gratitude.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
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POETRY
If you’re looking
for one simple
way to work
more gratitude
into your life
and expand your
imagination at the
same time, there
is no better single
thing to read
than poetry.
Author Joanna Novak
tells us that like
gratitude, poems
feel inevitable and
instantaneous; they
seem to capture a
purer or higher clarity
about the world —
even if their language
or form might be a
little confusing.
Poems are the perfect thing to read
when you’re trying to better your
gratitude-showing skills. This is
because they prompt us, as readers,
to see the world more fully. Being
present and aware in the moment
helps us be thankful, often helping
us realize that the little things in our
lives matter too.
When you’re reading a poem and
trying to practice showing gratitude,
pay attention to all the sensory
details in the writing. Observe the
rhythm of the words; notice how they
look on the page. Remember all the
tiny choices that go into constructing
a poem — yeah, it’s kind of an English
class throwback, but as soon as you
remember that even left-justifying a
poem is a statement, you can better
appreciate all the work that goes into
making literature.
Training ourselves to be more
sensitive readers helps us cultivate
appreciation of beauty and intention
in everyday life. These three poems
are great to spend time with and
they also implicitly or explicitly
address the subject of giving thanks.
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One Today
by Richard Blanco
We head home:
through the gloss of
rain or weight of snow,
or the plum blush of
dusk, but always—
home, always under
one sky, our sky. And
always one moon like
a silent drum tapping
on every rooftop and
every window, of one
country—all of us—
facing the stars hope—
a new constellation
waiting for us to map it,
waiting for us to
name it—together
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Blessings
by Jay Parini
Blessings on these
things and more:
the rivers and the
houses full of light,
the bitter weeds that
taste like sun,
dirt-sweetened spuds,
the hard-bright pebbles,
spongy mosses,
lifting of our bodies
into whiffs of cloud,
all sleep-warm pillows
in the break of dawn.
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A List of Praises
by Anne Porter
Give praise with water,
With storms of rain
and thunder
And the small rains
that sparkle as
they dry,
And the faint
floating ocean roar
That fills the
seaside villages,
And the clear brooks
that travel down
the mountains
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“When it comes to life, the
critical thing is whether you
take things for granted,
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or take them
with gratitude.
”
— Gilbert K. Chesterton
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I cannot express enough thanks and appreciation to the women
in my life who made this book possible. They planted the seed in
me from which gratitude has grown. Through the troubles and
the triumphs—I have bloomed—this work is the result.
To my mother and best friend, Julie Janisch. Thank you for the
absolute and unconditional love you have shared with me all my
life, especially through this process. Thank you for teaching me
the Golden Words of Thank You, as soon as I could speak. Lastly,
thank you for unintentionally showing me to live with grace and
gratefulness always.
To my educator, mentor and friend, Nicole Hauch. Thank you for
the outstanding empathy, passion and vision you have shared with
me through the years. Thank you for the unwavering support and
guidance you have provided me with through the creation of this
book. Finally, thank you for giving me my first plant—in a little blue
pot—the very color of this cover.
To my sister, confidant and partner in crime, Cecelia Marie
Janisch. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration in my
work. Thank you for encouraging me every day, unknowingly, to be
a better person. Lastly, thank you for simply being younger than
me—giving me reason to always push my work to be something I
am proud of—to make you proud.
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the University of Minnesota, www.
takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/10-waysbe-more-thankful-person.
“124 Best Gratitude Quotes and
Sayings to Inspire an Attitude of
Gratitude.” Develop Good Habits,
Oldtown Publishing LLC, 14 Feb.
2020, www.developgoodhabits.
com/gratitude-quotes/.
“31 Benefits of Gratitude: The
Ultimate Science-Backed Guide.”
Happier Human, HappierHuman,
5 Jan. 2020, www.happierhuman.
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“33 Self-Awareness Activities
for Adults and Students.”
Develop Good Habits, Oldtown
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developgoodhabits.com/selfawareness-activities/.
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Epstein, Eli. “7 Gratitude Exercises
You Should Try Today.” Mashable,
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mashable.com/2015/04/14/
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Mayo Clinic Staff. “Positive
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positive-self-talk/.
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by Madeline Janisch