Top Reasons to Practice Gratitude with Tips to Help You Do It

It's simple to develop or deepen a gratitude practice, yet the impact it makes on well-being is phenomenal. 

This post has been updated 5/o7/2024

Gratitude Helps You:

See goodness in your life, instead of taking it for granted.

Improve your sense of well-being.

Enhance relationships.

Shift perspective to positives.

Reduce stress.

Lighten your mood.

Create energy that helps you feel fully alive.

Empower yourself.

Generate compassion and generosity toward others.

Tap into the lovingkindness inside you.

Kindle inspiration and creativity.

Sleep contentedly.

Integrate mind with body to boost immune system, develop resilience to setbacks, and lower blood pressure.

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See what I mean? Giving thanks stimulates those warm, fuzzy, feelings as well as improves overall wellness.

Please try the techniques listed below. Each is intended to help you make a gratitude practice a mindful part of your self-care plan.

3 Tips to Help with a Gratitude Practice

1. Write in a Gratitude Journal 

Designate a paper bound notebook or journal as a gratitude journal. Use a pen with ink in the color you consider to be a grateful  color. Try using a marker, chalk, or colored pencils if you prefer. 

Journal writing is a tangible, grounding way to acknowledge and record the gifts in your life. Writing with colors adds color energy to the mix, and helps you tune into your senses and the present moment. 

Whether you journal every day, three times a week, or once a week, commit to a regular time to journal. Then, honor your commitment. 

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2. Send thank-you notes  

Handwritten thank-you notes are a meaningful way to show others you were touched by their words, gestures, hospitality, understanding, time, or effort. The note can be brief, but make it as specific as possible. Mention the other person's act of kindness, and what it meant to you.

Sit down with your children, after they have received a gift. Discuss the idea that presents and other acts of kindness like a new book or toy or an outing to the beach with a friend's family aren't their birthright. 

Teach kids a valuable life lesson by following through. This is a good way to help children develop a lifelong practice of acknowledging gifts in their lives. If they are too young to write, a picture can say thank you too.

Make gratitude part of your self-care routine. Notice those people who make your life richer. The first month, send one of them a written thank you note. Then look for and send a thank you note to someone the next month, and so on.  Then, take a moment to write and mail a thank you note to yourself.

Be kind and send a simple thank you note or at least call when you receive a gift. Set a good example for your children. Express your thanks in person, email, or over the phone.

Just remember, nothing beats a thank-you note written on paper and sent in an envelope. It conveys the message that you took time to do it, and are grateful for that person's thoughtfulness. In fact, it can turn an acquaintance into a friend. 

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3. Curtail complaining for 24 hours 

This is a big one. Rather than find fault with others or yourself, make a healthier choice and search for hope and possibility in every situation. 

This applies to difficult people or conditions at work, at home, in your community, with social contacts, and with world leaders and issues. 

A challenging or stressful incident can teach you much about your inner strengths, and heighten patience, courage, and resourcefulness. 

First, admit you're uncomfortable when people don't act the way you think is right or things don't go your way. 

Look at this need to control with self-compassion. Then use kind eyes to lighten your perspective. A  gentle attitude helps reduce anxiety, stress, and self judgment. 

Non-attachment allows you to observe which things you are powerless over, or reveals solutions you may not have thought of before. 

Use this practice of not complaining one day at a time, and each day start fresh. Observe things without finding fault, and you'll have clear vision about what is working in your life.

Gratitude Improves Your Outlook

The Health and Relationship Benefits of Gratitude, what health pros have found.

Gratitude and Adolescent Materialism and Generosity.

Easy Strategies to Use Colors to Draw Gratitude into Your Life.

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Before you go please comment in the space provided below.

What helps you focus on gratitude and what happens when you do?

Which of the 3 gratitude development practices above haven't you tried, but appeal to you? Please explain.

Have you reaped the rewards of a gratitude practice? In what ways?

Please don't put links in your comment, as I won't be able to publish it that way.

Thanks for the visit and know that I'm grateful for YOU! 💗

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