The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are

Gratitude
When it comes to gratitude, the word that jumped out at me throughout this research process is
practice. I don’t necessarily think another researcher would have been so taken aback, but as someone
who thought that knowledge was more important than practice, I found these words to be a call to
action. In fact, it’s safe to say that reluctantly recognizing the importance of practice sparked my 2007
Breakdown Spiritual Awakening.

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For years, I subscribed to the notion of an “attitude of gratitude.” I’ve since learned that an attitude
is an orientation or a way of thinking and that “having an attitude” doesn’t always translate to a
behavior.
For example, it would be reasonable to say that I have a yoga attitude. The ideals and beliefs that
guide my life are very in line with the ideas and beliefs that I associate with yoga. I value mindfulness,
breathing, and the body-mind-spirit connection. I even have yoga outfits. But, let me assure you, my
yoga attitude and outfits don’t mean jack if you put me on a yoga mat and ask me to stand on my head
or strike a pose. As I’m sitting here writing this, I’ve never practiced yoga. I plan to change that
between now and the time you’re holding this book in your hand, but to date, I’ve never put the
attitude into action. So where it really matters—on the mat—my yoga attitude doesn’t count for much.
So, what does a gratitude practice look like? The folks I interviewed talked about keeping gratitude
journals, doing daily gratitude meditations or prayers, creating gratitude art, and even stopping
during their stressful, busy days to actually say these words out loud: “I am grateful for …” When the
Wholehearted talk about gratitude, there are a whole bunch of verbs involved. It seems that gratitude
without practice may be a little like faith without works—it’s not alive.