3 Ways to Foster a Habit of Gratitude

I love my church. I don't talk about my faith much on this blog just because I generally view religion as a private thing (but not a secret!). I go to a very small (think 50 people) Lutheran church twice a week, once for a service and brunch and once for community with other college students. If you're not familiar with churches, specifically Christian churches, the reverend or pastor will give a short message (at my church, it's about 15-20 minutes) using verses from the Bible. Sometimes, it's theological teaching, but other times it's simply practical tips on living better. Last week, in preparation for Thanksgiving, our priest talked about three habits you can make to practice gratitude and, as he said, change your life. 

And so, very quickly, since I want to get back to my family (and hello, the food!), I wanted to share these three practices with you.

Testimony of thankfulness // Testimony is sort of a church word (or an infomercial word!) but it really just means a story of how someone has affected you. I challenge you to write a short testimony (but at least a paragraph or two) about someone who has positively affected you in your life. Then, (this is the tough part) you have to call up that person, meet with them in person if possible and read it to them.

Blessing Bowl // Find a spot on your desk or bathroom counter and place a bowl/bottle/jar and blank slips of paper. Every time you pass by the bowl, you must write down something you're thankful for and place the slip in the jar. 

Use a gratitude app // There's a huge variety of options out there, but my favorite so far is called Day One. Or, you can be a little more minimalist and either keep an ongoing list in your notes app of your phone. Finally, if you like pen and paper (like me!), you can set an alarm each day and write in a gratitude journal. Sometimes I also just journal right when I get up or before I go to bed.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!! Have a wonderful day with your family and don't be in too big of a rush for it to be over so Black Friday can be here! :)

How do you stay thankful? 

Tips on Starting a Journaling Habit

At the beginning of February, I decided that I wanted to start a regular journaling habit. I've said it time and again: journaling is not for me. My brain thinks faster than I can write and I get impatient that I can't get on paper my true thoughts on things. But I've read over and over and over again how good journaling is for you, both mentally and (surprisingly) physically. And so I keep giving it another try. 

Over the last six weeks, I've miraculously found a habit for myself in journaling. For the first time ever, I actually enjoy journaling. I don't journal every day--maybe only 2-3 times a week. But now I see why it's such a valuable habit to invest in. Journaling helps me review my day and forgive my mistakes and celebrate my victories.

01. Don't reread your entries.

I used to write journal entries with the intention of 'sounding cool' in case I ever went back and read them later. I would pretend like I hadn't really messed up or that I didn't get embarrassed or like I had it all together. But I didn't (duh). Journaling should be a place where you can let out the feelings that you hide all day, not another place where you have to pretend to be someone you're not. If you find this is hard for you, try journaling on a scrap piece of paper and then ripping it up. Eventually, I learned that I can write anything.

02. Skip what you don't want to talk about.

On that same note, I felt like I had to mention every part of my day. Journaling is for documenting life, but it's more a cathartic experience. Don't try to make a scrapbook for your kids out of your journal. If something was boring, stressful, sad or uncomfortable about your day, you can choose to journal your feelings out or you can choose to ignore it. It's your choice.

03. Have a prompt.

Sometimes on less busy days, it was tempting to skip journaling because I felt I didn't have any 'news' to record. Turns out, those are the days I enjoyed journaling the most. When you don't have a lot to say, choose a prompt to center your entry around. I'll do a post on sample journal prompts soon, but some simple ideas are to talk about two good things and two bad things about your day, a mistake you made, or something that made you smile. For more ideas, I wrote a post a few weeks ago with 10 prompts for gratitude journaling.

04. Set a timer.

Journaling can be tiring; that's just a fact of the matter. Especially when it's a new activity, it can be easy to journal too much and get burnt out. If you find that happening, set a timer for 5, 10 or 15 minutes. Remember: you can stop whenever you want--even if you've only written one sentence or you're mid-story.

05. Set a time. 

If you're trying to set any habit, it's incredibly valuable to set a time every day or every week to do it. I journal right before I get in bed. I'll brush my teeth/floss/etc and hop in bed with my journal and my pen. Eventually, my mind starts to remind me when I hop in bed that it's time to journal. If you're just starting out, an alarm or a phone ping can be especially helpful!

Do you journal? What are your tips for starting a habit of journaling?

Netflix Actually Costs Me $480 a Month (and Other Thoughts on 'Going Without')

Let me start a non-religious post with a short religion-related note: Last Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of Lent in Catholic faiths. In short, Lent is the forty days leading up to the celebration of Christ's resurrection at Easter. Many people in the church use Lent as a time to "go without" certain privileges or pastimes or vices in order to focus more on their mental, physical, and spiritual health.

Though I'm not Catholic per se, I appreciate the thought behind Lent + sometimes decide to participate. This year, I've decided to mostly give up Netflix. I'll explain why I say 'mostly' in a second. 

Over the last few months, I've steadily started watching more and more television. A year ago, I would have said that I rarely watch TV--once or twice a month usually. As of right now, I watch at least an hour, usually two or three a day. I sometimes watch an episode midday or mid-afternoon when I just don't want to work. Then, when I get in bed at night, I watch one or two more episodes. 

I'm actually pretty ashamed to admit that--it's a lot of television and I know it. And when I think about all the many, many hours of TV I've watched, I just feel embarrassed. But when I think about all the things I don't manage to get done, even on days when I watch an episode or two of SVU, I just feel sad. How can my priorities be so off that I can go a full day without talking to my family or exercising or spending time with friends but I always have time for Dance Moms? 

And so I did some calculating, because (in case you're new here) I'm super analytical and that's what I do. Assuming I only watch one hour of TV a day (and that's for sure a minimal day), that's at least 30 hours a month. I make $16 an hour (when I tutor). And this is what really hit me: besides that teeny $8 a month charge, Netflix costs me $480 a month. Every month. At the very least. That's $5,760 a year. 

Think about that. 

But even more than the money I lose in time wasted, I lose valuable opportunities to connect with other people, love myself, and live a more fulfilled life. In six months, I'll be moving out of my house and starting a new life an eight hour drive away. These are the days I should be making the most of, not wasting away watching Dance Moms (which, I know, is beyond trashy). 

And so I've been considering just that. I'm not going to cut out TV because I do consider it my 'me' time at the end of the night. But I want to be more intentional with my time + take care not to miss the important things. For Lent, aka the next 40 days (or a little less now), I will only be watching one episode a day, 45 minutes maximum. 

But more importantly, I will use my newfound time carefully, investing it into my family, H, my faith, and myself.

What do you waste time on? Are you going without anything for Lent?

Creating Productive Habits

Hey loves! Another one of my all-time favorite bloggers is here to blog about creating meaningful and productive habits in your life. I absolutely loved her advice + I hope you do too!

Hello Call Me Sassafras Readers! I’m so happy to have the chance to fill in for Allie today. My name is Amber and I blog over at And Yes To Joy. Over there, I blog about designing a positive life filled with intention. Like many of you, I aim to have as many productive days as possible. Balancing running a blog and being a full time student with a list of other activities, I survive by making the most of the time I have to get things done. The fact of the matter is, I’m big on setting goals, and it takes a lot of focus to stay on track to achieve them.

I've blogged about useful tools to help keep you organized and productive, like creating effective to-do lists and staying organized during crunch time. But no matter how many tools you try to utilize to boost your productivity, nothing is more effective than creating effective habits. Humans, after all, are creatures of habit.

A few elements are key when you’re working towards creating new, productive habits:

Create an intention
The first step to implementing any new habit is to first create an intention. If your mind and heart aren’t really in a place to form a new habit, the rest is a waste of time. If you’re ready to really focus on the task as hand, create a powerful intention to live your most productive life by focusing on what you hope to accomplish and why forming this new habit matters to you.

Create a routine
The key to true productivity is consistency. Keeping yourself on a schedule of some sort is essential. Opting the “go with the flow” route could easily lead to days spent on the couch. Start by implementing small tasks like waking up at the same time each morning and going to bed at the same time every night. Knowing that certain things should take place during certain times of the day helps you to make better use of your time.

Organize and Plan
Take some time at the end of each day to organize and plan the next day. Write important meetings and pressing items in your planner – include times and locations to help keep you in sync. If the traditional to-do list isn’t your think, organize a “Daily Game Plan” where you break down the day into blocks and assign tasks to each time block.

Give it some time
It takes about a month to successfully initiate any habit. Be sure to practice the same routine for at least 21 days, to give it time to take. This time of repetition will give you time to strengthen your will power, and overtime the amount of will power you need to get things done becomes less and less.

Evaluate
After your 21 days are up, sit back and evaluate how things have gone. Did you find yourself less overwhelmed and pressed for time than usual? Did you get more done, and feel less stressed?

It may take some time for you to tweak your new habit to make it really work for you and your lifestyle. Remember, while staying at it is important, stressing yourself out to the point of overwhelm is never a good idea. If something doesn't feel right, change it up. Productivity should decrease your stress levels, not increase it.

Printable: Plan a Productive 2014!

I'll admit it: I really, really love the New Year. As someone who loves making goals and plans, the new year presents all these exciting new things that don't seem possible in the middle of the year. So of course, embracing all things New Year related, I almost always make New Year's resolutions, and I have for as long as I can remember.

But this year, I've decided not to. For some reason, I've grown sort of disillusioned with the whole idea of the resolutions. Sometimes I think we put so much thought into making up these supposedly meaningful goals that we expect to last for a whole year that we feel like we've achieved our goal just in making them up. And I think New Year's resolutions set us up for failure because we have a deadline to come up with these goals (January 1!) and in our rush, they may not even be valuable or realistic goals. So all that to explain why it's mid-January and I'm still talking about the new year and will continue to for another month or so. 

This year, I'm trying a couple different methods to set goals. Instead of just writing down vague goals on a sheet of paper and instantly feeling like an accomplished person, I'm trying to make my goals into specific and mostly "one-time" goals, like 'read this book' versus 'read everyday'. 

So to guide me in the goal-setting process, I created this printable, which you are welcome to use. Post it in a visible place so you can be reminded of your plans for the year!

(Click to download. Prints best at 600 dpi and at a half-page size.)

In 2014, I will...
+break this habit: sleeping in late on Saturdays.
+make this habit: eating healthy snacks like veggies/cheese/yogurt before chips!
+read this book: Reconstructing Amelia by Kimberly McCreight
+watch this movie: Blackfish--the killer whale documentary!
+learn to code! (and continue learning calligraphy)
+visit: Sequoia National Forest + Big Sur in June!
+remind myself that: as I transition to a totally new home (remember...I'm moving in August!), people come in + go out of our lives for a reason and it will be okay. 

Do you like setting New Year's resolutions? How do you achieve success in your goals?

Wake Up, Allie [playlist]

So unfortunately, I am not a morning person, as much as I'd like to be. I'm also not a night person. I just like my sleep. Ideally, I'd sleep from ten till ten in the morning. However, getting up that late tends to mean I don't get really going until eleven or so, and then half my day is gone. That's why I made my weekly wish this week to try setting a morning routine. I didn't do so hot this morning, as I got up at about 9:35 when I realized I had work at 10. Such is life. Anyways, I made a little playlist to motivate me to wake up and run in the morning. Listen to it in this order; it starts slow and will get you up and at 'em. Warning though--it is way eclectic. Incubus to Yo-Yo Ma to Led Zeppelin to Needtobreathe. But I think it's awesome! Listen on 8tracks.

1. Aqueous Transmission//Incubus


2. C'est Ma Terre//Christopher Mae


3. Rise to the Sun (Live on KEXP)//Alabama Shakes


4. Separate Ways (One for the Road)//The River and the Road


5. 123 Stop//The Postelles


6. Girl Named Tennessee//Needtobreathe


7. Movin' Right Along//Alkaline Trio


8. Hope the Good Things Never End//Northcote


9. This Too Shall Pass//OK Go


10. Houses of the Holy//Led Zeppelin


11. Attaboy//Yo Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile


12. The Southern Wild//Eliza & the Bear


13. Don't Upset the Rhythm (Go Baby Go)//The Noisettes


14. Dolores//The Mavericks


15. Lemon Parade//Tonic

So we'll see if a good playlist is enough to get me going in the morning! Tune in tomorrow for a new collection of things that are Catching My Eye.