Gratitude Bootcamp

You've got to get real about your wellness routine once you turn fifty because under-eye concealer and butt-lifting yoga pants can only do so much. That's why I've joined my own Gratitude Bootcamp. In just one month of journaling, I've lost a lot of negative weight.

As a plant-based blogger and wellness podcast host, you might expect lengthy too-long-to-read (millennials, that's TLTR) paragraphs about how I'm eating even healthier by going raw vegan as my "new year, new me" thing. Not quite. Sure, I'm doing yoga in the backyard to improve my energetic frequency and forest bathing among pine trees to boost my immune system. What hippie chick doesn't?

But this year, I've ditched the idea of resolutions I'll forget all about by March. Instead, I pick up my pen and notebook for a healthy dose of gratitude journaling.

"Gratitude feels so good because it is the state of mind closest to your natural state in which you were born to live." - Esther Hicks

I usually begin my morning routine by eating an organic green apple from a local farm, followed by a large glass of lemon water, and maybe a frothy turmeric latte with almond milk. I'll take a spoonful of polyphenol-rich olive oil and my whole food nutrient-dense vitamin. Then I practice deep, yogic Wim Hof Method breathing exercises. You know, breath in, breath out, just go with the flow of the breath, into the belly and into the chest, like a wave, you're doing fantastic.

Writing down what I'm grateful for turns my mood amp way up to eleven. Better yet, I can write in my gratitude journal while snug in my cozy bed. Like a gaggle of giggling girls, I'm giddy with the attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude journaling plugs me right into the vortex. As I write out my gratitude rampage, I'm grateful for everything, even things I used to complain about. Once I committed myself to this gratitude bootcamp, I can no longer whine about how I can't figure out the password to my Apple account or how the Postmates delivery guy forgot the vegan ranch dressing for my fries.

"The universe is programmed for your joy." -- Marianne Williamson

Daily gratitude journaling only sounds cheesy. But once you actually do it, thanking becomes an inner wellness bootcamp that works miracles. If you write thank you and I'm grateful for down in ink, you've got immediate gains. Oh, you must actually write it down by hand to page. Don't go all wimpy on me with your fancy laptop docs and sans serif fonts. Get cursive, babe. I'm extra old school about my gratitude journal aesthetic.

I've done some Herculean feats in the name of wellness, like early morning bootcamp workouts with people half my age. All of those squat high wall balls, burpees, and dead lifts did not make me a healthier human. It just made me exhausted, and it totally wrecked my knees. My takeaway from those grueling workouts is that I cannot jump or run. Nope. Not this girl.

In fact, after quitting bootcamp and sugar, I finally lost thirty pounds. Buh bye, honey. Buh bye, bananas and maple syrup. I am so grateful I quit sugar because now I fit into those betta butt skinny jeans without doing squats.

I'm also grateful for a good night's sleep because why get up before sunrise to sweat with a bunch of maniacs that actually like burpees? My theory is this: bootcamp training raises your cortisol levels and stresses you out big time. Stress equals cortisol equals pizza dough belly. Just write down all the things you are grateful for, like not doing burpees at five freaking thirty in the freaking morning.

I've written about how thankful I am for birds singing and how grateful I am to have enough money in my bank account to afford both Netflix and Amazon Prime subscriptions so I can binge watch hunky actors play swoony Highlanders and 18th-century gentlemen with windswept hair.

The gratitude list goes on.

Just being thankful gives me an endorphin high. I get a surge of pure Irie jiving through me as good vibey as Bob Marley singing One Love. Yes, I'm on the groove train of higher vibrations.

Gratitude journaling can be anything you want to feel thankful about. Go ahead and try it. Your gratitude list can be as basic as I'm grateful for waking up feeling refreshed, or it can be I'm grateful for Ulta staying open because I can order my hair color online and pick it up curbside.

I'm grateful for is a powerful sentence starter.

Gratitude can be an extreme inner peace sport. It's like doing sixty push-ups inside every time you write thank you. Its simplicity has such a profound effect. I don't use the word authentic or even the phrase I'm holding space to prove my yoga mantra is better than theirs. That's just showing off fake yoga chick bravado.

You gotta lift that positive energy and go full-on beast mode if you want to really get gratitude fit. Do what you gotta do. If you have to force those thankful reps, listen to gratitude affirmations on YouTube and write them down, or better yet, say them out loud. Curl those reps with your fingers and max out on the appreciation gains. You'll get results worth more than all the claims those wellness gurus rant about.

Gratitude journaling is the real deal.