Patient Education Center

Practicing Gratitude

• Apr 26, 2022, 9:11 AM

Thanksgiving is an opportunity to give thanks for what we have, for the relationships we cherish with our friends and family, for our health – a time to celebrate all life’s blessings. This is a powerful time of the year for taking time to reflect upon those things we are most grateful for. Gratitude has been consistently associated with greater happiness. But gratitude doesn’t have to be saved for special occasions. The habit of being grateful starts with appreciating even the smallest things in life. Start incorporating gratitude into your life on a daily basis and you will quickly notice your life filling with more things to be grateful for. Here are 5 ways to practice gratitude daily:

Develop the habit of being grateful. One of our greatest gifts is the ability to choose what to focus on. The best way you can begin your day is by counting your blessings. Take time daily to write down five things that you are grateful for. Fill up with the feeling of gratitude in your body. There is nothing too small to be grateful for, count things such as being able to start your day with a warm shower or receiving a note from a friend. You can also try writing things you are grateful for that you may not yet have in your life. What are you working toward or believing for – feel grateful for that now. As you develop the daily habit of gratitude you will notice that you are naturally more grateful and have more empathy and happiness in your life.

Share your gratitude with others. When you express gratitude to others not only does it make their day a little brighter, but it will increase your own level of gratitude and happiness. Show your appreciation through a smile, a text, thank you note or a phone call.

Spend time with friends and family. Practice the art of listening and support your friends and family. Find ways to build others up and find positive ways to share genuine compliments with them. Connecting with others improves physical health and psychological well-being.

Focus on positive thoughts and solutions. No matter where you are and what your situation is, your focus can be shifted to something positive. Finding fault and complaining drain our energy. It is important to combat negative thinking. Dwelling on the negative will keep us stuck in an unhealthy place. Make sure to focus on the good things that happen in a day and not the one bad thing that didn’t go well. Sometimes we have to practice objectivity – what would you say to a friend who had that problem? As you focus on gratitude and positive outcomes, this type of thinking will become like second nature over time. Take a moment at the end of each day to focus on the things that went well. This is a positive way to end your day and will improve rest by promoting contentment – no matter how your day was, you will sleep a bit better than you would have.

Give back. Volunteering is a powerful way to share your gratitude with others. Even small acts of kindness can symbolize your appreciation of others and their situations. Feel grateful for the capacity to volunteer your time – this can include things such as helping in a soup kitchen while knowing you are so grateful for the healthy food you have at home lining your pantry and refrigerator shelves.

It’s easy to take all of our blessings for granted. Stop and be grateful, even if just for a simple glass of clean water, we maintain our lives because of water. Research shows us that practicing gratitude boosts our emotional well-being as well as physical health. Every day is a good day to enhance our lives through giving thanks.