Practicing Gratitude and How It Can Change Your Life
Written by Olivia Phillips
Practicing gratitude can mean many different things for people. It is the practice of giving thanks for the good and choosing to have a new perspective on life. The practice of gratitude involves improving personal physical and mental health while improving relationships with others. It is like a cycle, when you have healthy relationships your physical and mental health improves. Gratitude practice takes daily effort and changing your way of thinking towards positivity and happiness. And who doesn’t want to be happy? There has been much research on the benefits of practicing gratitude in enhancing sleep quality, decreasing depression and anxiety, mood, and chronic pain and disease (Logan, 2022).
As humans we unintentionally practice gratitude every day when we say thank you or I love you. Although, when there are stressors in life gratitude becomes lost and it is easy to introduce negative feelings and behaviors. To start practicing gratitude, observe all the good in your life from big wins to little wins (Logan, 2022). Secondly shift focus on what you want out of your life. Find the good and give your energy to those aspects of your life. There is an aspect of control that comes with practicing gratitude. One is taking control of their perspective and introducing positivity to their thoughts and feelings. Choosing happiness has many mental and physical health benefits. It can be as easy as sending a text to someone thanking them for supporting you through a tough time. Or thinking about how good your coffee was that day. Easy ways to implement gratitude into your daily life include journaling, writing letters, sending messages, and consciousness (Mindful staff, 2023).
Practicing gratitude through journaling could be writing in a notebook, on the note's app, on a sticky note, or in a sketch pad. Journaling allows individuals to gather their thoughts and feelings in one place. Examples of journaling prompts include writing down 3 things you are thankful for that day, 3 people you are thankful for, or 3 hobbies that you enjoy. Similarly, writing letters to people you want to thank for helping you reach a goal or getting you through a tough time. Having these thoughts written down can help one reflect on their thoughts and guide their focus too. Additionally, having a set time throughout the day to journal or write a letter ensures one is fulfilling their goal in practicing gratitude. Sending text messages praising a friend’s achievement, complimenting them, or sending words of encouragement is a way of practicing gratitude (Mindful staff, 2023). Being conscious of the positivity or negativity one brings to the environment is of importance. One’s patience, language, and actions towards other people affect how others treat them in return (Mindful staff, 2023). Simply, taking a moment when waking up in the morning to think about something good that happened the day before or things to be thankful for is practicing gratitude.
Many studies have been conducted proving the benefits of practicing gratitude. A longitudinal experiment showed that writing a gratitude letter once a week for 8 weeks improved well-being (Nelson-Coffey & Coffey, 2024). Additionally, studies have shown that practicing gratitude causes prosocial behavior in others through reciprocity (Nelson-Coffey & Coffey, 2024). Not only is one person being benefited by gratitude, but it can improve all the individuals around them. Practicing gratitude is taking steps into making a society a better place. Research has shown that gratitude increases patience and reduces aggression, which are important qualities of parents (Nelson-Coffey & Coffey, 2024). Taking the initiative and implementing these easy strategies in your daily activities can improve your life while improving others' lives.
References
Logan, A. (2022). Expressing gratitude to improve health. Mayo Clinic Health System. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/can-expressing-gratitude-improve-health
Mindful Staff. (2024). How to practice gratitude. https://www.mindful.org/an-introduction-to-mindful-gratitude/
Nelson-Coffey, S. K., & Coffey, J. K. (2024). Gratitude improves parents’ well-being and family functioning. Emotion, 24(2), 357–369. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001283
