Let’s incorporate more gratitude into our lives
Do you have a regular gratitude practice? If not, what’s holding you back?
There are 5 main types of benefits of practicing regular gratitude according to the Happier Human’s analysis of 26 studies on gratitude.
Which benefit is most appealing to you?
Emotional benefits that can include feeling happier, improving our self-esteem, and helping us feel more resilient.
Social benefits that can improve our friendships and romantic relationships and strengthen our family relationships in times of stress.
Personality benefits that can help us feel more optimistic, increase our spiritualism, reduce materialism, and increase our interests in giving to others.
Career benefits that can help us be more effective in managing and mentoring employees, reduce impatience, improve our decision-making skills, find meaning and purpose in our work, reduce turnover, improve mental health, and reduces stress.
Physical benefits include reducing depression symptoms, reducing blood pressure, improving sleep, making it easier to exercise, and overall improving physical health.
Here are a few ideas to help you incorporate more gratitude:
List 5 things in your head that you’re grateful for every day either as you’re waking up or right before you fall asleep, or both!
Journaling is a great practice where you list 3 things you’re especially grateful for every day.
Create a gratitude jar and fill it as you write something you’re grateful for on a piece of paper each day, or each time you walk by the jar. It’s a great visual for all the good things in your life.
Meditate using a guided meditation focused on gratitude or focus on listing things you’re grateful for as part of your meditation time.
Find a gratitude rock (or another object) that you can set somewhere you’ll see it regularly or carry in your pocket and every time you see or feel it, you’ll think about one thing you’re grateful for.
Write thank you cards not just when someone does something or gives you a gift, but also just to say you are thankful they are in your life.
Use your 5 senses to create your gratitude list: find scents, touches, visuals, tastes, and sounds you’re grateful for.
Make an effort to tell your friends, family, coworkers, and even strangers what you appreciate about them each time you see them.