Easy Ways to Practice Gratitude in Your Life

It seems like daily we are faced with negativity and fear in the news and on social media.  It’s easy to fall victim to this fear mongering, and focus more on the awful things going on in life rather than the good.  But how can we limit our exposure to this negativity and instead focus on the positives? Research shows that learning how to practice gratitude everyday increases our happiness, positivity and sense of wellbeing.  Cultivating gratitude is a choice you can make every day, but it does require practice.  And there are easy ways to practice gratitude in your everyday life.

Please note that while I am a Registered Nurse, I am not your nurse and my opinions above do not constitute or replace medical advice.  Be sure to discuss any questions or concerns with your physician or healthcare provider.   Also, see my disclaimer here for more information.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude can be defined as the appreciation of, the quality of, or the feeling of being thankful for things you value or have meaning in your life.

 

What are the benefits of gratitude?

Being grateful is mostly associated with feelings of increased happiness and wellbeing.  But research shows so many benefits of finding ways to practice gratitude in our lives including:

1. Increases our self-esteem and confidence.
2. Decreases depression and stress and improves coping with negative emotions.
3. Attracts friends to us.
4. Improves our relationships with others- family, friends, co-workers, etc.
5. Makes us more optimistic.
6. Increases our spiritualism.
7. Improves our generosity towards others.
8. Decreases our materialism.
9. Reduces impatience and improves decision making.
10. Helps us find meaning in our lives.
11. Makes us better leaders at work.
12. Decreases our chances of developing chronic diseases and improves our general health.
13. Decreases our blood pressure.
14. Helps us to exercise and eat healthy more often.
15. Improves our ability to sleep.
16. Increases our energy.
17. Helps us recover from illness more easily.

Making gratitude a habit in our lives can help to retrain our minds to be grateful for even the smallest things in life.  This will in turn, improve our lives substantially and help us to be even more grateful.  And of course, spreading your gratitude and positivity to others will have a ripple effect to those around you.

Here are some easy ways to practice gratitude:

• Start by looking for it.  Be conscious of your appreciation of others, your life, your surroundings, etc.  Also be sure to look around you at what it is that you appreciate, even the little things.
• Cultivating gratitude needs to become a habit for it to work well.  Consider putting it in your calendar- schedule time to practice gratitude.
• Use a gratitude prompt worksheet to help you easily practice gratitude.  I’ve created one to help you do this- you will find it in my free printables library that you can access by signing up to my monthly newsletter below.

• Keep a gratitude journal.  Find a book that you will enjoy writing in and put it somewhere that you will be reminded to write in it often.  Write down things every day or even just weekly that you are grateful for.  Doing this will help you to focus on positive things in your life.  Also, when you’re feeling down you can go back and read your entries and be reminded of all the wonderful things in your life.
• Use the Gratitude: Journal App to write down the things you are grateful for.  The app also includes affirmations, Daily Zen reminders, quotes, and a vision board to visualize your goals.  I use this app and love it!
• Practice Mindfulness.  Being mindful throughout your day helps you to focus on the present moment in a non-judgmental way. In addition, giving attention to even the smallest things in your life can really help instill a sense of gratitude.  See my posts on The Easy Way to Practice Mindfulness Every Day and How Mindfulness Can Change Your Life.
• Call or visit someone or write them an email, letter or even a text.  Connecting with others helps you to feel happier and nurtures your relationship with others, which helps to increase our feelings of gratitude.
• Give sincere compliments to others.  This helps you to be mindful of what you are grateful for in others, even if they are strangers.
• Receive compliments more graciously.  Don’t devalue another’s appreciation of you by negating what they say or adding disclaimers.  A simple “Thank you” is perfect.  However, this can be difficult for some people.  I know this because I battled with it for many years.  If you’re struggling with this, perhaps a counsellor can help you with your self-confidence and self-compassion.
• When you find yourself complaining, stop and find 5 things to be grateful for.
• Make gratitude a part of family life.  I have always asked my kids, “What was the best part of your day?” when we all sit down to dinner.  This encourages them (and me) to focus on things we are grateful for.
• Show appreciation and gratitude for your co-workers.   This has shown to increase productivity and retention of staff.
• Avoid gossiping/criticizing others.  This just adds to negativity in your life and can contribute to unhappiness.  If you find yourself being critical of someone, try to find positive qualities you appreciate about them.
• If you find yourself criticizing your own imperfections, counteract it with 3 things you love/appreciate about yourself.  Then, write them on sticky notes and put them on the mirror for the week to remind you.
• Create affirmations to remind yourself of your gratitude.  Write them down and put them somewhere you will see them often.
• Read books on gratitude to help you focus on an attitude of gratitude in your life.  Some good books for how to practice gratitude are Choosing Gratitude:  Your Journey to Joy- Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Focus on the Good Stuff:  The Power of Appreciation- Mike Robbins.
• Make time for self-care activities you enjoy.  While practicing gratitude opens us up to more self care activities, the acts of self-care that we do also increase gratitude in our life.  It’s a win-win situation.  Make self-care a priority!
• If you are spiritual, tell the “Universe”, “God”, or whatever deity you pray to – THANK YOU for all that you have.

 

What are you grateful for?  Let me know below!  I’m grateful that you have read this blog post and would be even more grateful if you signed up for my newsletter, left a comment, followed me on Instagram or even told a friend about my blog.  Thank you for being here! 🙂

 

Take care,

 

 

 

Resources:

Sansone RA, Sansone LA. Gratitude and well being: the benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2010;7(11):18-22.

Bartlett, M.Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: Helping when it costs you. Psychological Science, 17(4), 319-325

Emmons, R. (2010 November 17). 10 ways to become more grateful. Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1

Sansone, R.A. & Sansone, L.A. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: The benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry (Edgmont), 7(11), p. 18-22. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3010965/

Wong, J. & Brown, J. (2017 June 6). How gratitude changes you and your brain. Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved from https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_gratitude_changes_you_and_your_brain

Alex M. Wood, Jeffrey J. Froh, Adam W.A. Geraghty, Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration, Clinical Psychology Review, Volume 30, Issue 7, 2010, Pages 890-905, ISSN 0272-7358, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005.

Rash, J.A., Matsuba, M.K. and Prkachin, K.M. (2011), Gratitude and Well-Being: Who Benefits the Most from a Gratitude Intervention?. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 3: 350-369. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1758-0854.2011.01058.x

Da Jiang, PhD, Feeling Gratitude Is Associated With Better Well-being Across the Life Span: A Daily Diary Study During the COVID-19 Outbreak, The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2020;, gbaa220, https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbaa220

https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-gratitude-research-questions/