I’m walking in the early winter woods. The leaves are nearly gone. A  dusting of snow is on the ground. The air is crisp and clean. #519 Breathing crisp, clean air.

I remember when I started my list many years ago. I was swinging in a hammock and reading the book One Thousand Gifts. In the book, it all started as a dare written by the author’s friend in an email. “Can you write a list of one thousand gifts?” The author rose to the dare and it changed her life. That fall day in the hammock I was a few chapters in –  when I, too, succumbed to the dare. 

Instead of calling it gifts, I decided to simplify the dare even more and make a list of one thousand things I really like.

#1 Hiking in the high country   #2 Rich, thick musical chords   #3 Sunshine

I continued to add to my list intermittently for 3 years or so then the practice faded away. Recently, in a particularly grumpy spell, I felt a whisper from God’s Spirit to start the list again. I dug through my old journals until I found out what number I had ended on. #484 –  The radiant warmth of fall sunshine. 

When I renewed my practice, I resolved to add three things to my list each day. But I discovered that my goal was nearly impossible. Impossible to stop at 3, that is. As soon as I set my mind to looking for things I really like, my mind became obsessed with the project. I became a hunter fixed on finding the beautiful that was around me. It was a healthy obsession that did not keep me from my regular daily activities, but the effect on my mood was enormous. My felt-sense of well-being lifted from grumpy to joyful contentment. 

I became a hunter fixed on finding the beautiful that was around me.

In the weeks since renewing the project, I’ve observed that I still have full capacity to be grumpy or frustrated whenever I want to be. But as soon as I get back to the practice in earnest, my default mood lifts to some form of happy.

 A Little Science 

Our thoughts strongly influence our choice of emotions and mood. Our body joins in the process by releasing hormones and chemicals that correspond appropriately to our thoughts.

 When we choose to think of the beautiful and the good, our body releases the corresponding “feel good” hormones and chemicals which make it easy for us to create positive emotions.

What’s good about positive emotions? Besides being very pleasant, positive emotions are strongly correlated with increased physical and mental well-being.

Our thoughts are continually changing the very architecture of our brains. When we choose to think about the beautiful and the good, we strengthen our brain’s capacity to find more beautiful and good. The end result: More positive emotions and greater well-being.

Making a list of things that I really like was the first Soul Sculpting Project that I offered many years ago. I selected it because I knew it was super simple and enormously effective. 

As I have returned to this project, I still declare it to be super simple and enormously effective for increasing a sense of well-being.

Which List?

For some of us, framing it as a list of gifts from God will be effective. I appreciate seeing it as a gift list because this fosters gratitude and easily opens the topic of relating to the difficult gifts that we do not like. 

For some of us, framing it as a gratitude list will work well. Gratitude is well documented as a contributor to increased well-being.

And for others, like me, it can become simpler yet as a list of things that you really like. I find it simpler because it requires no emotional commitment. I can feel grumpy and still pause to notice or remember something that I really like. I can be in the throes of frustration and still manage to think about – say lemon bars.

All these lists will lead down a similar road and bring a host of benefits. The question is: Which list will work best for you?

If the number 1,000 feels too daunting then pick a low number for your list.

It’s the hunt that matters, not the number.

Soul Sculpting Project: The List

 Begin writing a list of things that you really like. (Or Gifts from God, or Gratitudes)

So what would #1 be on your list?

One more observation on creating the list —

 It slows the rush of time.

When I’m pausing to pay attention to the beautiful, time stands still – only this present moment.

And being in the present moment, in the company of God and the beautiful, is a very good place to be.

Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light.  James 1: 17 The Message

My gratitude for One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp and the many scientific researchers who have studied well-being.