🙏 MS: Importance of Gratitude 💜

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SUMMARY 

Let's talk about gratitude when living with MS. I think it's an important time of year to bring up the discussion around gratitude, especially if you are living in the US and you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week. No matter where you are in the world, of course, gratitude matters. 

🙏 MS: Importance of Gratitude 💜

Let's talk about gratitude when living with MS. I think it's an important time of year to bring up the discussion around gratitude, especially if you are living in the US and you're celebrating Thanksgiving this week, no matter where you are in the world, of course, gratitude matters. I live in Canada and I learned a long time ago how important gratitude was to my life. I'd like to share that story with you and also share my gratitude practice.

For those of you who don't know me, I'm Jen DeTracey. I'm the founder of Women Thriving with MS, and I've been living with MS for 12 years now. Back before I was diagnosed with MS, I met a woman named Kath who lives with an autoimmune disease. She'd been living with that disease for over 10 years.

It almost killed her in the beginning. I was so grateful to be able to have conversations with her. We'd actually met at a running group and we were training for a 10 kilometer run. The problem for me was after being diagnosed with MS, I could not run anymore. I tried. I was tenacious about it, but it just was too hard.

Kath had back issues. So we decided we would just create a schedule to walk together around this man made lake that was near where she lived and talk about life. That was a very special time for me. I'm so grateful for that and her guidance of going through something difficult.

One day I was talking to her about how unhappy I was, and Kath recommended something to me that was life changing.

This was to start a gratitude practice. Having a gratitude practice, she said, had really changed her life and her outlook. She recommended that I write ina journal every night and create an ongoing practice.

That's what I did. I found a note book. I wrote the word gratitude at the top. I dated the page. Then I struggled. I struggled to find an I idea of what I was grateful for. I started with the small things in my life, my dog, the sunshine, being able to have a nap. It was like this for weeks at a time. Then slowly I was able to notice that I felt grateful for other things.

At the end of the day, grateful for a call from a friend, a hug, a moment in time where I felt normal. These moments were precious. At a certain point over time, I became more consciously aware of things I was grateful for. So it wasn't just about writing in a journal anymore, it was in the present.

It was like I could imagine, I could see in front of me things that I was grateful for at the that moment. This was the beauty of this practice. This practice helped get me out of dark times. It wasn't the only thing I was doing, but it was such a powerful tool.

So as we come around, circling back to Thanksgiving, I understand on holidays often we feel gratitude. Gratitude to connect with others, gratitude for abundance of food, gratitude for just the spirit and energy of that time.

What I want to remind you of is that we can feel this gratitude every day. We can put attention towards it. We can refibre the MS brain that we have and train ourselves to be open and looking for gratitude many times a day.

The feeling behind gratitude can feel so amazing, even in hard times. In fact, in hard times it's even more powerful. So I invite you to start your own gratitude practice and see how that goes for you. If you're already doing something like that, whether it's on an app or a journal, or just reflecting at bedtime, or when you wake up in the morning, I'm celebrating you.

I'm grateful for all of you that have become a part of the Women Thriving with MS community. I appreciate you and I hope that wherever you are on the planet, that you have a fantastic day.

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About Jen

I'm Jen DeTracey and I'm the founder of Women Thriving with MS. I helps women go from Surviving with MS, to Striving with MS to Thriving with MS. I do that through coaching our, online programs the YouTube channel, Facebook group that's free and membership and so much more.

Jen's been living with multiple sclerosis for over 12 years. She went through this process of surviving with MS to striving MS to thriving MS. She is a guide, coach and teacher who helps you move forward on your journey from surviving to thriving with MS.