GratitudeToBliss

Love Life Every Day

Happy 10 Years To The Little Journal That Started It All! 

Ten years ago this month I did something that would change my life forever. I wrote, designed, and published a gratitude journal. 

I had been practicing gratitude for a little over a year and when my health coaching school created a contest to win a conference in Costa Rica, I knew I wanted to enter.  

So one snowy day in March 2011, I got together with one of my best health coach friends and we talked through our ideas for participating in a 60-Day Challenge through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition (IIN). The goal of the challenge was to create a program or project to help propel our business forward. One hundred lucky students and alumni would be invited to attend a special conference in Costa Rica. 

I had a number of ideas, most of which involved food, recipes, and meal plans, but when Joshua Rosenthal, the Founder of IIN, said we should think about what has helped up the most in our own healing journey, my gratitude practice quickly came to mind. Being a graphic designer with lots of publishing experience, I knew I had wanted to someday create a journal specifically for practicing gratitude. When I shared this idea with my friend, she said, “Do  THAT.” 

She said, “Your face lights up when you talk about it.”  

And so I did.  

My 60-day challenge was to inspire 100 people around the world to discover the healing power of gratitude. 

First, I created a Facebook group where I showed people how to keep a daily gratitude practice, and within one week I had over 100 participants. Soon there were participants from 15  countries in over six continents sharing what they were grateful for! 

Next, I interviewed people who shared their success as a way to inspire more people. 

I then began researching the health benefits of practicing gratitude and created a series of  “Vitamin G” inspiration calls and shared the recordings. 

I also began sharing my story.

Finally, I wrote, designed, and published, From Gratitude to Bliss: A Journey in Health and  Happiness. The original draft included inspiring quotes about gratitude from well-known people. As I looked over the printer’s proofs I realized that I should have written my own quotes. I stayed up until 4 am that night rewriting them, turning them into coaching tips that would guide users to get the most out of their practice. I believe this is what makes this journal so unique and powerful. It is written by a health coach (me). 

After submitting this video entry, I was chosen (along with my friend!) to attend IIN’s 2011  Costa Rica Conference:

At that conference, I met so many amazing health coaches including Annie Wagoner of Core Nourishment who I recently interviewed on Instagram and Lindsey Witmer Collins who is the  App Developer for the Gratitude To Bliss App! 

The following year, From Gratitude to Bliss received a gold award from Living Now Books, “Celebrating the innovation and creativity of newly published books that enhance the quality of our lives.”

I can’t believe this all happened 10 years ago. My life has never been the same and I am so unbelievably grateful.  

 

✨Gratitude Journal Giveaway!✨

To help us celebrate this milestone we are giving away 50 signed copies of the award-winning journal, From Gratitude To Bliss: A Journey in Health and Happiness and I invite you to enter!

We will randomly select 25 lucky people who will receive two journals, one to keep and one to give to someone you love. To enter for a chance to win, go to this post and follow the rules in the caption.  

If you’re not on Instagram, you can also enter by sharing a Gratitude Moment by emailing it to us. Be sure to include a photo if you wish (optional)!

A Gratitude Moment is as simple as sharing something you are grateful for, or it can be a time that gratitude took you by surprise. A Gratitude Moment can also be a story you share about gratitude and how it helped you overcome a challenge in your life.

Thank you for sharing in the celebration and I can’t wait to see who you’ll tag and what you’ll share. 

Thank you for your continued support as we travel this journey to bliss together for many more years to come! 

Love + gratitude, 

 

 

 

 

My Gratitude Moment  

 

May is a very intense month for me.  

It is the month I became a Mom after eight years of trying.  

It is also the month my Mom passed away suddenly eleven years ago.  

And it is the month we celebrate Mother’s Day—a day that can feel heavy for those of us who have struggled through infertility or have lost a Mom. 

Each year in May, I am reminded that my most difficult experiences have also been my greatest teachers.  

Waiting eight years to become a Mom, and falling apart in the process, is what led me to discover the power a gratitude practice would have in my life. As painful as it was to go through, my struggle is one of the things I am most grateful for. 

Had I not been practicing gratitude daily at the time I lost my Mom, I know with absolute certainty that I would not have been able to accept her passing with the strength I felt at that time. Very shortly after the initial shock of losing her, I began feeling overwhelmingly grateful for the Mom I had, and for the years I had her.  

My gratitude practice somehow cushioned the blow of losing my Mom so tragically.  

It was in that moment that I realized the power gratitude was having in my life. Soon after, I decided to make gratitude the focus of my business as a health coach.  

I’ve never looked back. 

The decision to prioritize gratitude in my life has guided me to things I never thought were possible for me.  

A few years later I was blessed with the most amazing little baby boy and this month we celebrate his eighth birthday.  

My gratitude practice helps me focus on the joy of motherhood, and doing this makes me a better Mom.  

 

 

This year, for the month of May and beyond, I am kicking off something very special: The  Gratitude Moments Project. 

What I love about The Gratitude Moments Project is that it’s designed to help you notice all the different ways we experience gratitude in our lives.  

Sometimes we feel grateful for something wonderful. It could be something small, like a cool breeze on a hot day, or huge like the birth of a child. 

But gratitude happens in other ways too. It can sneak up on you when you least expect it, as was the case for me when my Mom passed. (Hint: The more you practice, the more this tends  to happen.)

Gratitude is also like a BFF – it’s the thing you reach for first when you start feeling things going south. Once you have a solid practice in place, your gratitude BFF is always there to help you turn things around.  

For this month and beyond, I invite you to share YOUR gratitude moments with me.  

  1. Follow me on Instagram 
  2. Share your gratitude moments and use #mygratitudemoment 
  3. Tag me @gratitudetobliss in your posts! 

If you’re not on Instagram, you can email your gratitude moment and we’ll post it for you if you wish. Include a photo if you like.  

If you need help getting started with your own gratitude practice, check out the newly refreshed Gratitude To Bliss App in the App Store (available on iTunes and GooglePlay). FREE for 14 days, the Gratitude To Bliss App gives you a full year of daily gratitude inspiration, coaching tips, and more. Share it with someone you love too! 

I can’t wait to see your “gratitude moments.” And I LOVE seeing the ripple effect of gratitude we are creating around the world.  

Remember, every day you practice gratitude takes you one step closer to living your bliss.  

Make it the most important five minutes of your day! 

With love, 

 

 

 

Want to Have a Good Day? Rx: Come Back To Gratitude


How many bad days have you had during the past year?

Be honest. How many times have you felt anxious, worried, stressed, or even afraid and it prevented you from having a good day?

Keeping a positive mindset in today’s world can feel a lot like learning to walk. You have to fall down again and again before you’ve built the strength to stay up.

When I was at a low point in my life over 10 years ago, I knew I wanted to have a good day. I knew I wanted to “think positive.” I knew I wanted to spiral up.

Most of all I just wanted to feel good.

Only I didn’t know how. It was the how that always got me tripped up.

One day I found myself legit praying for a tool. Something to help me cope. And just like that, my tool showed up in the form of a gratitude journal. (Only I didn’t know it at the time.)

Writing down 5 things every day I was grateful for, and focusing on the feeling I got when I thought of those things, was my ticket out of the doom and gloom way of life I was caught up in.

In a matter of weeks I was not only feeling good, I was having lots of really good days and was enjoying my life again!

Here we are over 10 years later and my gratitude practice still helps me stay calm and centered on a daily basis. It keeps me focused on what I care about most: family, friends, self-care, being creative and trying new things. What’s cool is that if I start to feel myself going to the dark side, gratitude always brings me home.

Through all the up’s and down’s, one thing stays true: life is precious. The good, the bad, the triumphs and the challenges all add up to one amazing experience we call life.

With a little bit of practice, being able to appreciate it all AND stay positive — no matter what gets thrown your way — is a skill you too can master. And I have just the tool to help you!

One of the things that’s truly brought me joy this year is working on a new version of the Gratitude to Bliss App. It’s been a high priority project for me all year to expand the app to a full year’s worth of inspiration, coaching tips and more to help you get the most out of your own gratitude moments on a daily basis.

Whether you’re new to practicing gratitude or in need of a refresh, the Gratitude To Bliss App will be here soon!

It’s the #1 gratitude app created by a health coach (that’s me!) designed to boost your health and your happiness!

Practicing gratitude using the Gratitude To Bliss App is easy to do and super nourishing—it’s just like taking a vitamin, and is why I like to call my gratitude practice “Vitamin G.”

Here are just some of the proven health benefits “Vitamin G” will give you:

  • Boosts your immune system
  • Balances hormones
  • Lowers stress
  • Improves mood
  • Increases circulation
  • Lowers blood pressure

Health and happiness go hand in hand. When you focus on what’s good in your life, you improve both your HEALTH and your HAPPINESS.

It’s how we turn all those bad days into good ones.

After the year we’ve had, it’s time to move forward with strength, courage, and trust in what’s good. It’s time to realign and come back to gratitude.

Because today IS a good day to have a good day!

Please share this blog with a friend and leave your questions and comments below and stay tuned for the Gratitude To Bliss App launch event by following me on Instagram!

Love, Lorraine

 

 

 

Today Is A Good Day For A Good Day

Me with my favorite chiropractor, Dr. Alan Sherr of Northport Wellness Center, where I go every week for self-care (something I am very grateful for!).

The Blessing of Being

Seven years ago today I became a Mom.

Although my journey to motherhood was not one I ever would have chosen, I can truly say I am grateful things turned out just the way they did.

It wasn’t always that way.

Being grateful is so hard to fathom when you’re going through a challenge.

It’s often only afterwards, when we look back and reflect on our experiences, that we realize how much our struggle helped pave the way for us to become what we needed to; much like a caterpillar struggles to emerge from a chrysalis as a beautiful, elegant, divinely perfect butterfly.

That’s not something you can ever help it do. In fact, if you were to help, the butterfly would die. The struggle IS the path. The path to growth and completion.

So while I’m not a big fan of struggling forever, I believe our struggles are what shape us and give our lives meaning.

Had I not struggled to become a Mom, I would not be the Mom I am today. I would not have the son I have today. I would not have the grace, humility and appreciation I have today.

So for today, I am going to bathe in gratitude, in celebration of my son, Milo.

Today, Milo, I am grateful for:

The sweet way you smile at me first thing in the morning. I am so lucky you are the first thing I see when I wake up.

The way you love to snuggle and be snuggled.

Your clever sense of humor.

The way the music you create on your piano makes my heart dance. It seems to flow out of you with perfect ease and joy. It surely lives inside you.

The creative way you invent and play games.

Your lightening speed when we ride bikes together. You are keeping me in shape.

The deep and special connection we have between us. It’s almost like you know what I’m thinking sometimes.

Your short temper, as it reminds me to be gentle with you.

You’re stubbornness. It reminds me you are your own person.

Your questions. May you always ask questions.

Your love of reading. It is a gift and a joy to share with you.

Your warrior personality and love of victory. May you always triumph.

Your ability to make friends. May you always be surrounded by people who love you.

Your ability to make people laugh. That is a gift to be cherished.

The amazing structures you build in our living room.

The way you just interrupted me to give me “one thousand, million kisses.”

The way you make me feel grateful, every single day, that I GET to be your Mom.

Thank you, Milo, one thousand, million times.

And thank YOU for reading.

I realize not all struggles have a happy ending. But I do believe gratitude can play a role in how we handle life’s big challenges. If we can find something in our experience to be grateful for, however tiny it may seem, it can make all the difference.

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by Bankim Desai on Unsplash

10 Years Later, I Still Miss Her Terribly


My Mom passed away suddenly on May 18, 2010. It was the biggest shock I’ve ever experienced. She was here one day and gone the next.

But through my grief, I felt an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the Mom that I had, and the years I had her.

Since that time I have prioritized the power of gratitude in my life.

A few years ago, I was lying in bed on the winter solstice, just a few days before Christmas, the holiday my Mom loved most. 

I don’t think I will ever meet someone who loved Christmas as much as she did.

When we were kids, she once organized an entire neighborhood event, shepherding all the children from house to house singing Christmas carols. This was followed by a gathering at our home with hot chocolate and her large assortment of homemade Christmas cookies, which she had been joyfully baking for weeks. At the time, my brother, sister and I thought this was a common occurrence in the new neighborhood we had just moved into, but as it turns out, it was all my mother’s doing.

Christmas brings up many beautiful memories along with a great longing for the days when I could hug my Mother any time I wanted to, and her warm embrace would soothe me for days.

Among her many talents, my Mom knew how to hug.

As I thought about my Mom that night, missing her terribly, that same overwhelming feeling of gratitude took over and I silently sent 100 million thank you’s to her in heaven.

This year, as we shelter in place, my six year old son and I decided we would create a project called the 100 Million Thank You Project. The project is meant to inspire gratitude at a time when we can all use it. I hope you will check it out! #100MTYProject

Mother’s Day 2020, like all things lately, will feel a bit different for many. My heart goes out to those of you who won’t be able to hug your Moms due to the social distancing and lockdown measures that have been put in place, and for those who may have lost a Mom recently.

Here is a Mother’s Day gratitude meditation you can do to help you remember that feeling of Mom around you. Feel free to share it.

I am also co-hosting a Live Mother’s Day Gratitude Healing and Meditation free online event this Sunday from 9:30 – 10:30 am – you can register here!

Stay well and may gratitude be with you always,

 

 

 

 

Photo: Mother’s Day Thank You Card created by my student, Kathleen Williamsen
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