We’ve all heard about the power of gratitude and appreciation, and the practice of appreciation is something that I do every day. Somedays I write out my appreciations, but in the past year, it’s gotten to be so engrained that I find myself in appreciation even as I walk and talk and do the dishes and pet the cat and collect the mail.

But about three years ago, I did something that was quite a lot of fun. I decided to deliberately send out my thank yous to people who inspired me, but whom I did not know.

That month, I wrote letters to authors, many of whom wrote back to me. I wrote emails to website owners, many of whom responded. Often the letters and emails were short, but that didn’t matter. The replies didn’t really matter at all. It was my act of writing the original letter or email in the first place that was the important thing.

In the beginning, it was a challenge. It’s hard to write to someone you don’t know. All these thoughts come into your head. What will they think of me? Am I writing a FAN letter, of all things? Aren’t I a little too old for this kind of thing?

But after a while, it became easier and easier. I didn’t feel quite so foolish telling someone I didn’t know that I loved this particular passage from their book. Or that their website made me smile, and helped bring me back to a good mood.

When the 30 days were up, I decided to keep doing it. But after a while, other things came to the forefront, and gradually I drifted out of the practice.

Writing this has reminded me of how good it felt to write letters and emails of appreciation. And how nice it was to hear back from people, to make those connections that would otherwise never have been made if it weren’t for that letter or that email.

I think it might be time for me to do another 30 days of Saying Thank You.

You’ve got to do it anyway, so why not consider turning your next round of household chores into a workout, too? Hey, you’d end up with a clean house AND feel fit. You can’t really beat that.

Keeping Fitness Simple offers up these tips for transforming your regular housecleaning routine (I don’t have one, personally, but you might) into a workout:

1. Push yourself.

“Whether you’re mowing the grass or making beds, you should work at a level of exertion that noticeably increases your rate of breathing but does not leave you so breathless that you could not comfortably converse with someone as you work.”

2. Try to work continuously rather than in short spurts.

“Work hard enough so that you’re breathing deeply … but not so hard that you’ll need to take breaks every few minutes.”

3. Target particular muscle groups.

“Different chores focus different muscles naturally, but you can gain even more benefit by sharpening this focus. … [Household and cleaning] activities employ specific muscles, which you’ll be able to feel simply by paying attention.”

4. Add auxiliary moves.

“Not all chores are inherently calorie-blasters, however, so some augmentation can be a good idea. When doing dishes or ironing, for example, try doing toe-raises to firm the muscles of your lower legs, or bun tighteners (flexing the muscles of your lower posterior) to help bringup your rear.”

Like I said, I don’t have any sort of housecleaning routine, but if you do, turning your daily routine into a workout is something to consider.

A friend of mine loves to step onto the training mats of her dojo. At the end of a long hard day at work, she describes it as feeling the stress just melt away.

For her, the practice of karate-do has its spiritual aspects. And she makes her practice a priority. There are three classes a week, and she has attended these classes regularly for the past seven years. The only times she misses a class is when she has to be out of the city for work reasons.

Developing a spiritual practice is a very satisfying experience. The key, though, isn’t whether you should develop a spiritual practice - it’s whether you make your spiritual practice a priority in your life.

In the book Inner Peace for Busy Women, Joan Borysenko writes:

“Spiritual practices are meant to bring you into the experience of the Now - your centered, best self. Whether your spiritual practice is starting the day with a walk in nature, prayer, meditation, yoga, qigong, or inspirational reading, making it your first priority helps you stay balanced and at ease, whatever the rest of your day may bring.”

While Joan talks about starting your day off with your spiritual practice, I believe that having a special time every day for your practice can work just as well. Some of us, after all, aren’t morning people. Finding the extra time in the morning may make the whole process more grueling than satisfying.

But decide on a “when” - and then stick to it. Mark it into your datebook if that helps. It’s a truly special and magical appiontment, and deserves to have priority in your life.