Gratitude

In honor of National Gratitude Day coming up this Tuesday, I figured I needed to write a post all about gratitude. Gratitude means, “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”

I want you all to reflect. How grateful are you on a day-to-day basis? Do you regularly think about how thankful you are for the positives in your day? Would you like to be more grateful?

I think we can all always be more grateful. When we are more mindful of the things we are grateful for, it makes our days a little brighter and smiles a little bigger. Focusing on the things, events, and people that make our days more joyful can help all of us to become less angry and our community to grow in a more positive direction.

Gratitude not only allows us to feel happier from day-to-day, but can also allows us to have more positive and impactful experiences and memories. For example, in a moment of absolute delight and contentment, we may not even know that we are feeling this way if we don’t give ourselves time to sit back and reflect. We are always go go go, but if we just take one second to bring gratitude to the forefront of our minds, we can make a huge difference.

Gratitude helps us to explore ourselves and remember what makes us happy. We can then try to include more of these moments of positivity.

Your gratitude is also linked to your self-esteem. When you are more grateful, you are more likely to have confidence and respect for yourself. This also leads to being less likely to compare yourself to others, and as many of us know, comparison is the thief of joy.

Being more thankful can even increase your physical health. A study found that those who practice gratitude before bed fell asleep faster and stayed asleep longer. This then decreases one’s likelihood for heart disease. This is because more sleep boosts your immune system, reduces stress, and therefore decreases chances for heart disease.

We all have so much to be appreciative of and we need to remember thank not everyone is lucky enough to have what each of us have. For instance, whenever I workout, I try to think about how wonderful it is that I am able to use my body in such a strong and powerful way. Not everyone has the capabilities to workout, so every time I’m dreading a workout, I think about those people who wish more than anything that they could workout like I can. Use your gratitude to your advantage just like I did in this example. I thought about how grateful and fortunate I am, and used that to push me through a tough workout.

I also like to think about how fortunate I am to have the best family ever, and be able to get along with them.

I believe that being mindful of gratitude helps us to become more empathetic. If we are appreciating all that we do have and thinking about those who don’t, we won’t just expect that everyone has what we have. Every person has something(s) that we don’t know about and being thankful will help us to understand that.

As you can see, gratitude plays a huge role in your relationship with yourself and with others. Practicing gratitude has so many benefits, but now I want to show you how you can practice gratitude.

The first example is simple. All you have to do is think about what you are grateful for. Think about all of the great things that are happening, and even think about how you can turn negative situations into a positive lesson and become grateful for learning. At this moment, make gratitude the most important thing on your mind. Put time aside to think and reflect.

You can also practice gratitude through writing. You can keep a gratitude journal where you write down a few things you are grateful for each day or each week. You can also have a gratitude jar. In the past, I have used a mason jar, then wrote on sticky notes what I am grateful for and put them in the jar. This is a fun way to visualize all the things you can be grateful for. If you are ever feeling down either open up your journal or take out a sticky note and think about what you were grateful for.

Lastly, you could do a gratitude challenge with family or friends. You can decide how you want it to work, but hold one another accountable! Share what you are thankful for.

This week, I challenge you all to think of five things every day that you are thankful for.