How Practicing Gratitude Can Immediately Increase Your Joy In Life

 

As the season of Thanksgiving and the holidays draw closer, it’s the perfect time to ask: 

Do you have a regular gratitude practice?

The upcoming holidays can bring on anxiety, stress, and even depression. 

For those feeling a little lost or overwhelmed, it’s been proven that the simple act of being grateful can actually lift spirits. 

Gratitude is simply a thankful appreciation for what someone has or receives. 

With gratitude, people acknowledge what’s good in their lives, and recognize that the source of that positivity comes from a place larger than themselves, nature, other people, or a universal power. 

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude can help us shift our focus from what’s not going so well in our lives, to the things that are. 

Since what you focus on expands – just recognizing what’s good in our life, can bring about more good in your life. 

Here’s a short list of why you’ll want to add this simple, but powerful success principle into your regular daily routine:

• Positively affects your mental health
• Boosts our natural immunity to illness and disease
• Lowers your blood pressure, stress levels, and feelings of anxiety
• Reduces physical aches and pains
• Reduces feelings of anger and aggression
• Enhances empathy
• Increases self-esteem and confidence
• Improves sleep quality
• Improves ability to focus 
• Assists in overcoming trauma and setbacks
• Improves relationships – appreciative people cultivate deeper relationships 

Each of us is unique.  We feel thankfulness and express gratitude differently. Here are just a few ways you can recognize the blessings in your life: 

1. 
   Be grateful for the people in your life - those who've affected you positively, now and in your childhood
2. Recognize things you have to be thankful for right now - your health, your mobility, your vision, there are so many things you've got going on for you that are positive
3. Give thanks for your past experiences - even the challenges you've come through - they've contributed to who you are today.

If you don’t yet have a gratitude practice, here are some suggestions to help you implement this powerful practice in your life:

Notice The Good Things In Your Life

Identify a few things each day that you’re grateful for. 

Recognize small everyday details of your life that you might otherwise take for granted - and write them down. 

Each day, find a couple of things to be grateful for, it could be as simple as the beauty of nature around you or the amazing people in your life.

Consider the community you belong to, your family members, and even just the simple comforts of a warm bed, a hot meal, (even better if you didn't have to cook it), and a safe home.

Track them on your phone or add them to a note and then put them in a jar.  

When you recognize the positives around you more often, you'll be amazed at how much more positivity shows up in your life. 

Keep a Gratitude Journal

If you already keep a journal, why not start each entry or close it off with 1-5 things you're grateful for?

I highly recommend keeping a little gratitude journal and taking up a daily gratitude practice.  That one strategy is life-changing and it's as simple as starting your day in gratitude just by writing down a few things you're thankful for or finishing off your day that way.

The benefit of writing them down is that you can look back later on and be reminded of all the things you have to give thanks for.  

It's wonderful to review when you need a little 'pick-up' too.

 Practice Gratitude Rituals 

You can easily make gratitude part of your morning routine by recognizing a few things out loud that you're thankful for each morning as you get ready for the day.

You can also 'Give Thanks' at mealtime or bedtime if grace before meals or before bed is something you've grown up with or practiced with your family members.    

If meditation is part of your self-care regimen you can also simply make it part of your routine.  Simply take a few moments as part of your meditation practice to reflect on your gratitude. 

Express Gratitude

Take gratitude to a deeper level and radiate thankfulness with your words, good manners, and courtesy. 

Say 'Thank You' and show heartfelt appreciation to others when they say or do something kind for you. 

Write a heartfelt 'Thank You' note, letter, or an e-mail to people who've positively affected your life.  Send it, deliver it, or read it to that person.

It's especially effective when you express specifically what you're thankful for and why it means something special to you. 

You can show your appreciation to someone who's done something nice for you by telling them exactly what you're grateful for and why it means something special to you. When you express exactly what their gesture means to you, it'll create a deeper connection with them as well. 

Create a practice by writing one of these messages once a month.  

• It could be a teacher or a coach who's inspired you along the way
• It could be a childhood friend
• It could be a neighbour who extended kindness that you missed expressing gratitude for long ago
• It could even be a letter to a parent, grandparent, sibling or an adult child of yours if you feel some reconciliation is overdue. 

You could also simply thank someone mentally if you don't have time to write a letter to that person or if they've passed away or moved out of your life.  

You could also write them a letter in your journal. Just the act of writing it will be therapeutic for your soul. 

   

Your gratitude practice doesn't have to be complicated to be powerful.  

It may feel unnatural or uncomfortable at first, but it will become easier when you make it a practice.  There is plenty of research indicating that gratitude is associated with greater happiness and feelings of overall wellness.

Practicing gratitude regularly will help you focus on all that you have rather than what you may be lacking.  In doing so, you'll feel more positive emotions, recognize good experiences, support your mental health and wellness and build stronger relationships too - all contributing to your feelings of joy and satisfaction in your life.    

Say this out loud:  No matter how bad it is, or how bad it gets, there's always something to be thankful for. 

And it's true. 

When we shift our focus from the negative circumstances we find ourselves in to what we have to be grateful for instead, we're forced to recognize how blessed we truly are.  

Having an attitude of gratitude fixes things immediately. 

And there always is something to recognize as a blessing, there's always a reason to take the next step forward:

• Your faith
• Your health
• Your family and friends who love you
• Your own indomitable spirit

Pick five more things and give thanks for them.  Big things, tiny ones, in-between ones too.  Doesn't matter...what is it that you're thankful for?  

Personally, I practice gratitude in the morning as I'm preparing for the day and as I go to bed.  It starts the day off right and makes for better dreams at night. 

A Gift For You

If you'd like some help setting up a helpful Gratitude Practice as part of your self-care regimen, I'd be delighted to chat.

Contact me to schedule a FREE 'Ready For More' Focus Session.

By the end of it, you'll have:

1. Crystal Clarity about your next steps &
2. A clear and customized Action Guide to help you achieve what you want, PLUS
3. Some resources to help you along your way.

About the Author:

Andrea Raco, is a Certified Success and Life Enrichment Coach, a Copywriter and the Founder of Coach for Life.

She's also the Curator of Gold Key Club ~ a private community for solution~minded women making a difference in the world with their talents and gifts. She'd be delighted if you'd join her there.

For more information about her services and programs, visit www.coachforlife.ca or contact her via e-mail: andrea@coachforlife.ca.