Back in the ‘90s, gratitude as a practice, as a journal, was this fresh new thing.

That was then.

In this episode, we talk about how and why in the intervening years the whole “gratitude thing” got to feel overdone. And then we talk about some of the unusual, awkward, semi-crazy ways we’ve refreshed it for ourselves this year.

Let’s just be honest about this.

We’re calling it.

Get ready.

“Gratitude” as a practice – the whole journal thing, the whole gratitude list thing – has gotten stale and now feels blah and tainted.

Why is that?

One of the reasons, we think, has something to do with how “gratitude” has been framed as having “something in it for you,” whether it’s better health, resilience, or just enjoying life more.

Not that those things aren’t true.

And not that those things don’t matter.

But when the focus is on how it helps you you you…and how it’s good because it produces certain desirable results results results… let’s just say it kinda takes the shine off the whole thing. Sort of like how happiness is a side effect. You don’t experience it by pursuing it (with all due respect to the Declaration of Independence), you experience it as a side effect of NOT focusing on it.

Gratitude seems to be similar.

You can experience it and “practice” it by focusing on and doing things other than just trying to drum up a feeling of gratitude.

Here’s a short-hand list of ideas to upgrade to Gratitude 2.0:

• “oh my gawd” (make a huge deal – open your eyes wide and say with an enormous smile “oh my gawd!!!” …about small things, like a cup of coffee)

• get physical (do a big-ass dance …about small things, like a cup of coffee)

• go without creature comforts for a while (don’t use hot water for showers, don’t eat snacks, don’t use elevators or escalators, don’t use bags to carry stuff into the house)

• take time to re-read and re-look at, messages or tokens of support you’ve received (this is close to the 1.0 version of a gratitude practice)

• prayer/blessing/ritual acknowledgement of receiving a meal, before eating (this is also similar to gratitude 1.0)

Also in this ep, we reference another ep, which is 148 Do It Different: Using Teeny Tiny Goals To Make Bigger Change.