There are many benefits to a gratitude practice.
Learn more about them and how to start practising gratitude.
Benefits of a gratitude practice
Gratitude helps us in many ways, those benefits can be divided into 5 categories:
- Emotional benefits (it makes you happier and increases your self-esteem)
- Social benefits (it leads people to like you and improve your relationships)
- Personality benefits (it helps you become more optimistic and generous)
- Career benefits (it makes you a better manager)
- Health benefits (it increases your workout frequency and may help you sleep better)
Gratitude is just a good thing overall and here’s how to get started.
How to start your gratitude practice
Count your blessings
Write down (at least) three things you are grateful for every single day without repeating yourself.
You can go as big as you want and be grateful for your family, for life, for love, etc.
You can find gratitude in the little things too, you might be grateful for the delicious meal you just had or the sunny weather.
Actively looking for things that made you happy helps you focus on the good things.
Some days it might take you longer than others, but the lesson stays the same: there is always something to be grateful for.
It helps you focus on the good things and you are more inclined to notice the positive after a while.
I love this quote from Alice Morse Earle or any version of it.
“Every day may not be good, but there’s something good in every day.”
That’s all gratitude is about. It doesn’t mean you’ll be happy all the time but you’ll always find light and enjoy it. Day after day, that light just keeps getting brighter as you care for it.
Express gratitude every day
Tell people thank you when they do something nice or helpful. It can sound like a no brainer, but how many times do we take for granted what other people do?
Even if someone has done something a thousand times before and you’ve grown accustomed to it, say thank you.
Tell others that you appreciate what they are doing.
Say to your partner that you are grateful for the dinner they made even if it’s the same spaghettis you’ve had hundreds of times before.
Thank your colleague for answering a question despite their busy schedule.
Tell the delivery person that you appreciate their work as it allows you to take time for other things.
Write a letter of gratitude
This gratitude practice goes into deeper territories.
Choose a person in your life and address them in a letter. You don’t have to give it to them if it refrains you from writing. Maybe start by writing and you can decide later if you want to share it.
Describe in specific terms what this person did. How did they make a difference in your life? How did they affect you? Why are you grateful for this person and appreciate that your journeys crossed? How do they make you feel?
Sharing such a letter strengthens your relationship and helps you understand the importance of some people in your life.
Those are simple ways to start implementing more gratitude in your daily life. What you focus on you create more of.
Your gratitude practice will help you find more things to be grateful for.
