Bui l di n g G rati tude L A V A N Y A S H E T T Y · 2020-03-11 · he l l o ! M y n ame i s Lav...

W r i t t e n b y

L A V A N Y A S H E T T Y

Building Gratitude

Don't let the fall fail you. Start Over by building gratitude in your life.

S t a r t O v e r K i t

w w w . s t a r t o v e r k i t . c o mS t a r t o v e r k i t

http://www.startoverkit.com/

https://www.instagram.com/startoverkit/

hello!My name is Lavanya Shetty. I am an Entrepreneur with passion

for developing tools that you could use to successfully build grit and resilience to reach your goals, all while enjoying the process.

Success starts with having a grateful mindset. This E-Book helps you

develop a grateful mindset to start over the tasks that were not completed before.

DON'T LET THE FALL FAIL YOU. START OVER.

Disclosure: All the strategies that I will be using in this E-book were collected and created during my journey in building the gratitude.

START OVER KIT

START OVER KIT

Don't let the fall fail you, start over!

Live your dreams!

Table of contents

Chapter 1. What is Gratitude?

Chapter 2. Why is Gratitude Important?

Chapter 3. Structure of this E-book.

Chapter 4. How to use this E-Book.

Chapter 5. Pillar 1: Conscious Flow Writing.

Chapter 6. Pillar 2: Clear headspace.

Chapter 7. Pillar 3: Manage noises & fears.

Chapter 8. Pillar 4: Developing Habits.

Chapter 9. Practicing gratitude.

Chapter 10. 21 day gratitude prompts

Chapter 11. Recommendations

Chapter 10. Closing Comments.

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3-4

5-7

8-11

12-20

21-23

24-26

27-30

31-32

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http://www.startoverkit.com/

Chapter One-

What is gratitude?

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Gratitude is an emotion and a personality trait. The feeling of being grateful comes from the sense of appreciation for things and

situations in your life.

Gratitude has healing power. If you are dealing with stress, anxiety, disappointments, challenges, setbacks or failures, practicing

gratitude can help you overcome the negative emotions and see things in a positive bigger picture.

In simple terms, gratitude is affirming all the goodness around you.

Gratitude is a state of mind, which is developed when you notice and affirm the good things in life. This state of mind, does not depend on

your circumstances but depends on how good you are at finding something you are grateful for in any situation.

This includes finding meaning/purpose even in bad experiences, since there is always something to learn even from bad experiences.

"This is a wonderful day. I've never

seen this one before." Maya Angelou

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What is gratitude?

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Chapter Two-

Why gratitude?

3

Gratitude is one of the personality traits that is strongly connected to the overall well-being and life's fulfilment. People who choose to be grateful have greater happiness, joy and enthusiasm towards life.

They tend to make better decisions in life as well.

People who are grateful take steps to protect themselves from the negative emotions like anger, frustration,

jealousy, feeling victimized, feeling sad etc.

Writing gratitude helps us believe in the goodness even during challenging, tough and uncertain situations.

The above are the reasons why it is very important to be living a grateful life.

People who develop grateful state of mind can cope with and recover from stress and failure quickly and gracefully. Those who are grateful

tend to have better health, mindset and overall well-being.

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of

appreciation for goodness.” —Dalai Lama START OVER KIT

Why gratitude?

People who are grateful tend to act with kindness and forgive people easily, which in turn helps them to love the life with less emotional

baggage. People who are grateful are regarded by others as Trustworthy, Optimistic and Kind-hearted.

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Chapter Three-

Structure of this e-book

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This e-book is structured in such a way that it could facilitate individuals to develop and nurture a grateful mindset, irrespective

of their external circumstances.

This books talks about WHAT gratitude means, WHY & HOW we should develop a grateful mindset for our overall well-being. People

who know their 'WHY' tend to successfully understand how to develop and maintain practicing gratitude.

The book takes you through the 4 pillars for successfully building a grateful mindset.

"Gratitude is the sign of greater souls" -

AesopSTART OVER KIT

Structure of this e-book

The four pillars to build a grateful mindset are:

1. Conscious Flow Writing 2. Clear Headspace

3. Managing Noises & Fears 4. Developing Habits

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Structure of this e-Book Contd.,

Each of the four pillars comes with a supporting worksheet, which helps you build awareness of your own thoughts & emotions. From that

awareness, the worksheets will help you strategically plan to build gratitude in your life.

The end of the E-book contains a 21 day workbook with prompts to help you write your gratitude on a daily basis. I sincerely hope that you continue to

build and recognize gratitude in your life beyond 21 days.

Please feel free to make copies of the worksheets to continue to write gratitude on a daily basis.

If you find this E-book helpful, please feel free to share with your family and friends, who might find this helpful as well.

- Start Over Kit Team

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Chapter Four -

How to use this E-Book

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This e-book focuses on 4 pillars on which gratitude could be built. The four pillars are sequenced in the order of how they should

be learned, understood and implemented.

Use the worksheets as supporting tools to understand and benefit from each pillar.

Each Pillar's worksheet is to be used at least for 7 consecutive days before moving on to the next pillar. For your convenience, 7

consecutive days worth of worksheets for each pillar are included in this e-book.

"Always have an attitude of gratitude"

- Sterling K BrownSTART OVER KIT

How to use this E-book

If you feel the need to work on a pillar for more than 7 days, you are free to copy the worksheets and continue to practice the exercises for

any duration of time that you might need to suit your needs & requirements.

As a best practice, allocate a designated time every day to work on each pillar, preferably with no distractions.

Once you understand and complete the exercise for each of the pillars, you can start practicing gratitude on a daily basis.

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How is use this E-Book Contd.,

The e-book provides 21-days worth of worksheets for your gratitude practice. The 21-day workbook also provides prompts

for each day on how to practice gratitude on a daily basis.

Please feel free to copy the gratitude worksheets and continue to practice the exercises beyond 21 days.

If you find this e-book helpful, please feel to share this e-book with your family and friends who might find this helpful as

well.

- Start Over Kit Team

10

1. Stream of Consciousness 2. Clear Headspace

3. Managing Noises & Fears 4. Developing Habits

Four Pillars to Build Gratitude

- Start Over Kit

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Stream of consciousness is a term introduced by William James in his Principles of Psychology (1890).

Stream of consciousness, which is also called conscious flow, is a continuous flow of person's thoughts and conscious reactions to the

situations.

In stream of consciousness writing, you would write down the thoughts and reactions to the situations that you encounter on a piece of paper

continuously, just the way the conscious mind is thinking.

Stream of Consciousness writing is intended to capture the entire flow our thinking and reasoning, rather than limiting ourselves to rational

thoughts.

Stream of Consciousness writing is not creative writing but it is “As- is” journal of consciousness of our thinking mind. Conscious flow

writing is intended for the purpose of reviewing, understanding and analyzing our thoughts & emotions.

"The un-examined life is not worth living"

- SocratesSTART OVER KIT

Pillar 1: Stream of Consciousness

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How to use stream of consciousness

In the stream of consciousness writing, there is no need to follow any pattern or worry about any grammatical mistakes. There are no rules to it.

The only requirement to follow is to strictly write down whatever comes to your mind at that very moment.

You can use a paper to write or a computer to type your thoughts & emotions. You can start with writing the thoughts that need to be analyzed

and addressed. You may start by saying ‘ I feel like ..’ and then let the thoughts flow until you want to stop.

If you are not able to write any of your thoughts, simply start writing, … ”I would like to write down my thoughts but I am not able to...” or something along those lines. This puts you in the habit of writing. Once done, keep it aside and continue with your day to day activities for the rest of the day.

At your leisure, preferably at the end of the day, start reading the stream of consciousness flow that you wrote and reflect on it. Identify all the emotions

in the reflection section. This will help you identify those unnecessary & unreal thoughts that might be pulling you down.

Gradual elimination of unreal thoughts would serve as a basis to gradually build gratitude.

The next few pages contains worksheets which could help you write your stream of consciousness and a space to reflect upon it at the end of the day.

It is highly recommended that you continue writing your stream of consciousness beyond 7 days. Feel free to make copies of the worksheets for

your use beyond 7 days.

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Day 1: Stream of Consciousness

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Reflection to bring awarenessStream of Consciousness

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Having a clear headspace is very important for the overall well-being and to develop healthy and positive habits.

The clearer the headspace, the better your well-being and your ability

to find things that you should be grateful for in life.

Most of us think that we either have positive mindset or negative mindset. I would like to share a different spin to it that we have both positive and negative mindset at any given time. But, our mind will

be filled with the feelings that we think the most.

This is the reason why the happier and grateful thoughts we think, the more grateful our life becomes.

Gratitude is like a plant that could be grown and a clear headspace is

like a fertile land that helps the growth.

Continue to the next page to see the 6 steps to develop a clear head space.

"Let your smile change the world but don't

let the world change your smile" - UnknownSTART OVER KIT

Pillar 2: Clear Headspace

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Start over kit

6 Steps to build a clear headspace

A clear headspace starts from within. Below are the 6 steps to build a clear headspace:

Step 1: Start wherever you are and however you feel. But, just start with the need and desire to build to clear your headspace. Refer to worksheet in the

next page titled 'Path to your future self', to strategically plan to clear negative feelings of head space.

Step 2: Change starts within you. So reflect and heal yourself first to make you happy. Happiness is an inside job.

Step 3: Start with small things in life. You don't need big things happening to feel grateful, just start with small things.

Step 4: Get into a habit to self-reflect every day in order to de-clutter your headspace. Refer to Pillar 1 for stream of consciousness.

Step 5: Build a supportive and like-minded group of people around you. If you don't have a supportive group at this moment and/or you are in the process of

building one, then don't underestimate the power of books, blogs and great videos. These are supporting entities as well.

Step 6: This is a very important step. If you fall off following the steps towards building a clear headspace, don't loose hope; just start over.

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Worksheet: Create a clear headspace

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Your current thoughts How you would like to be How to get there

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It's quite common to have fears in our lives. Some seem to manage their fears and work towards overcoming them and others not so much. Un-

managed fears turn into anxiety, which might even lead to panic attacks. Fears make it difficult to focus on things we are grateful for. That's

precisely why it is necessary to not just acknowledge our fears but to manage them.

The below are the steps you could use to manage your fears.

Step 1: Write down your fears.

Awareness is the key. Every time you feel a fear, just write it down. This

exercise is for you alone and so, write all your fears as they come in your mind and write exactly how you feel.

Step 2: Reflect on your fears.

At the end of each day, reflect on the fears that you have listed through out that day. While reflecting on each fear, ask yourself "Is this fear even realistic?". Many a time, unrealistic fears popup in our minds and try to keep us from being our best selves. So, it's very important to first see

through our fears and ask if it's realistic.

"[For] love carts out fear, and gratitude can

conquer pride" - Lousia May AlcottSTART OVER KIT

Pillar 3: Manage Noises & Fears

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Step 3 : Work towards managing your fears.

If the fears are realistic, then write down steps to manage and overcome the fears.

For example,

If you have fear of certain stressful patterns getting repeated, then take a moment and check the chances of the fear happening. If there are

chances of happening this time too, start listing things that could minimize the happening. On the other hand, if the fear is not real then,

make conscious choice to clear the fear from your mind.

Be aware of noises around you, which could turn into fears. The fears create anxiety and pulls you away from seeding grateful thoughts in

your mind.

People who are more grateful has both good things and not so good things happening in their mind but they choose to focus more on the

positive side of the life. That's the reason why they see everything with gratitude because it's a choice they made.

" When you are grateful, fear disappears &

abundance appears" - Tony RobbinsSTART OVER KIT

Pillar 3: Manage Noises & Fears Contd.,

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Worksheet: Manage Noises & Fears

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List your Fears Fears that might happen Fears that might not happen

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There are 5 steps for developing habits.

Step 1: Write your 'Why':

- Take time to write WHY you would want to build gratitude in your life. - Is it because you want to foster an optimistic mindset or is it because you

want to continue with a positive mindset every day or any other reasons; Write down the exact reason WHY. People who know their WHY

will always find ways to develop habits.

Step 2: Start simple - Take small steps first:

- Start off with a small thing that you are grateful for that you can see around you. Eg., that cup of coffee you have every morning or a restful sleep

you had last night etc., - Start off with one thing you are grateful for. Once you start seeing

gratitude in one thing, you will start feeling grateful for every thing in your life.

Step 3: Make it a routine:

- Dedicate a particular time of the day to write gratitude. Make sure you

write your gratitude every single day with no distractions. It is preferable to write the gratitude the first thing in the morning because the way you start

your day dictates how your rest of the day operates.

"Change your habits to change your life"START OVER KIT

Pillar 4: Developing Habits

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Step 4: Create and celebrate milestones:

Create small milestones to start with and stick to the plan to reach

those milestone. Eg., Your milestone could be to write your gratitude the first thing in the morning for next one week.

Once you complete one week of writing the gratitude, celebrate the small

win. Life is full of small celebrations you create.

When you celebrate the win, it will automatically inspires you to do more. Create your next milestone and aim towards completing it. May be this time,

make your milestone bigger. How about writing gratitude for the next two weeks instead of one? Keep challenging yourself.

Step 5: If you fall off the routine, start over:

This is one of the important steps in developing habits. Don't quit. Before

developing a habit, be aware of the things that could stop you from developing the habit and make sure you stay away from those distractions.

If you fall off the routine, don't despair, just start over.

"The more you celebrate your life, the more

there is in life to celebrate" - Oprah WinfreySTART OVER KIT

Pillar 4: Developing Habits.. Cont'd

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Worksheet: Developing Habits

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Milestones &Timeline

What could stop you

Why :Write why you want to build gratitude in your life.

Eg., To see the possibilities around me etc.,

Create small milestones and timeline to complete it.

Eg., Write gratitude for 1 week every day in the morning.

List every distraction that could stop you from developing

gratitude as daily habit. Awareness is everything.

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Worksheet: Developing Habits

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Habits Routine What could stop you

Why :

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Now that you understood the 4 pillars of building gratitude, let's look at 4 steps you can follow to cultivate gratitude as a daily practice.

Practicing gratitude on a daily basis should be a well-planned habit.

Take first five minutes of your day to write one or two things you are grateful for.

Uncertainties and self-doubt are some of the root causes of noise, fear and negativity in life. The more gratitude you practice, the less you will

worry about noises and fears in your life.

The following are 4 steps to cultivate gratitude as a practice every single day:

Step 1: Your day begins the night before. Before going to bed; plant a seed in your mind to write gratitude the first thing in the morning.

Step 2: Prepare the mindset. Look for things around you that you are grateful for. The game is to find good things in your life that make you feel

happy and grateful. So, even if you are going through tough situations, find one or two things you are grateful for in life.

"First we form habits, then they form us"

- Jim RohnSTART OVER KIT

Practicing Gratitude

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The below are few steps to cultivate gratitude as a practice every single

day (Cont'd):

Step 3: Keep a notebook and a pen next to your bed to write your gratitude the first thing in the morning.

This way you will make it a habit to write gratitude before you get along

with day's hustle and bustle.

Step 4: Start over, if needed. If you miss a day or two, just start over the third day. The more grit you develop, the stronger your habit of writing

gratitude becomes.

Finally, keep your reason WHY you want to practice gratitude every day at your reach and some where it is visible. This will inspire you to keep

practicing gratitude on a daily basis.

"Motivation gets you going and Habits gets

you there" - Zig ZaglarSTART OVER KIT

Practicing Gratitude...cont'd

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"All the love you need is around you. Find it." - Start Over

Kit

START OVER KIT

21 Day Gratitude Writing: Day 1: Gratitude Prompt

Day 1:

Gratitude Prompt: Name the relationship of family member(s) that you are grateful for and write why you are

grateful for the person.

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" The secret of having it all is knowing you already do" -

Unknown

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Day 2:

Gratitude Prompt: Recollect a gift someone gave you that made you feel very special and how it made your day. Why you are grateful for the person in your life?

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" A grateful heart is a magnet for miracles" - Unknown

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Day 3:

Gratitude Prompt: Name a friend that has been there for you in your happy and tough times. Write why you

are grateful for that friend to be there in your tough times.

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"Start each day with a grateful heart"

- Start Over Kit

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Day 4:

Gratitude Prompt: Name a mentor that made an impact in your life. Write why you are grateful for your mentor in your

life.

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"Give gratitude and receive miracles in return" -

Start Over Kit

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Day 5:

Gratitude Prompt: List 2 challenges you have over come. Write why you are grateful for having strength to overcome

the challenges.

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"All the love you need is around you. Find it" - Start Over Kit

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Day 6:

Gratitude Prompt: Name a person who inspired you. Write why you were grateful for that person.

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Feeling gratitude & not expressing it is like wrapping a

present & not giving it - William Arthur Ward

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Day 7:

Gratitude Prompt: Take a glance around your home and write why you are grateful for having any one thing of your

choice in your home..

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If you count all your assets, you always show a profit -

Robert Quillen

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Day 8:

Gratitude Prompt: Pick one thing you always use on a daily basis and write why you are grateful for having it in

your life.

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Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back &

realize they were the big things - Robert Brault

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Day 9:

Gratitude Prompt: Remember a time you selflessly helped someone and write why you are grateful for

having the opportunity to help and how it made your feel.

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Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life

is the foundation for all abundance - Eckhart Tolle

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Day 10:

Gratitude Prompt: What is your favorite place in your city and write why you are grateful to be living close

by your favorite place.

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If you want to turn your life around, try thankfulness. It will

change your life mightily - Gerald Good

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Day 11:

Gratitude Prompt: List 3 things you like about yourself and write why you are grateful around those 3

things.

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The way to develop the best that is in a person is by

appreciation & encouragement - Charles Schwab

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Day 12:

Gratitude Prompt: List your favorite memory and write why you are grateful for that memory.

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He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which

he has not, but rejoices for those which he has - Epictetus

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Day 13:

Gratitude Prompt: Name an opportunity that was given to you and write how grateful you are for the opportunity.

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The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be

appreciated - William James

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Day 14:

Gratitude Prompt: Remember the meal you had with your favorite person and write why you are grateful for

the time well spent.

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When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned

around - Willie Nelson

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Day 15:

Gratitude Prompt: Find out 2 things you like about the current weather outside and write why you are grateful

for the weather.

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It is impossible to feel grateful & depressed in the same

moment - Naomi Williams

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Day 16:

Gratitude Prompt: What do you do in your spare time to relax and write why you

are grateful for having a favorite thing to do in your life.

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Things turn out best for people who make the best of the

way things turn out - John Wooden

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Day 17:

Gratitude Prompt: Find 2 things that you are grateful for in your profession and write why you feel grateful for

them.

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Gratitude & attitude are not challenges; they are choices -

Robert Braathe

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Day 18:

Gratitude Prompt: List any two accomplishments in your life and write how those accomplishments made

you feel and the emotions that went through you at those times.

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Gratitude is more of a compliment to yourself than

someone else - Raheel Farrog

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Day 19:

Gratitude Prompt: Name a talent you have for which you are very grateful and write how that talent has been

helping you and others.

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I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty

feet - Mahatma Gandhi

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Day 20:

Gratitude Prompt: List one thing you are looking forward to and write how grateful you are for that.

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In life, one has a choice to take one of two paths: to wait for

some special day or to celebrate each special day

- Rasheed OgunlaruSTART OVER KIT


Day 21:

Gratitude Prompt: What is your core value in life and explain why you are grateful to have built that core value.

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Recommendations

Recommendation 1

www.startoverkit.com

Allocate a specific time each day to write gratitude.

Use prompts if you are new to writing gratitude. Prompts could help you build a mindset focusing on miracles around you.

Even in tough situations, find some thing you are still grateful for. Write that in the gratitude section for the day.

Keep the book that you write gratitude next to your bed along with a pen so that it's easy to reach out to write in the morning

and get into the habit.

If you fail to write gratitude for a day or two, just Start Over!!

Recommendation 2

Recommendation 3

Recommendations 4

Recommendations 5

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Closing Comments

www.startoverkit.com

At times, life's situations could bring us down to our knees. These challenges in life make it hard to focus on good things around us. This makes it even harder to pull

ourselves up. What could we do to regain the focus? What could we do to pull ourselves up? The answer could simply be developing a sense of gratitude.

I had my share of struggles & challenges in life. In trying to find a solution to cope with the challenges to pull myself up. I have read lot of books and followed many

inspiring people's work. Those inspiring people have mastered their minds and they all shared a common theme and that was that they all practice gratitude on a daily

basis.

I wanted to practice gratitude on a daily basis as well but I couldn't understand how to start practicing gratitude during my challenging times and how to make

gratitude as my habit.

But, in trusting the path that was taken by those who mastered their minds, I started practicing gratitude on a daily basis. I started by writing just one thing that I was grateful for every day. Slowly, using few strategies, I could acknowledge more things that I am grateful for, which I never even realized before. Things started to

seem very hopeful and rewarding once I started practicing gratitude on a daily basis.

My intention towards creating this e-book is to share the tools, techniques and

strategies that I have developed and practiced, to build a sense of gratitude in my life.

My goal for this e-book is to help people who would like to build gratitude in their

lives and reap the benefits that gratitude has to offer.

Lavanya, Founder at Start Over Kit

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