How to Practice Gratitude
Ahhh!!! I’m so excited to be with you friends! I’m really grateful you are here today. You being here means a lot to me.
The world around us is changing and written content doesn’t hold the same weight as a podcast or a YouTube video, but I still do it.
I have been on a journey of exploring gratitude more, exploring my own self-love and self-care. Man — I’ve honestly been trying to better myself.
But now — again, I continue to work on my writing and how I communicate with others vocally and through text.
This is a long intro.
It feels long to me because I’m not just diving into gratitude, right now I’m really taking the time to express my appreciation to you for being here.
And letting you know I am working on myself so you can see me and hear me through my writing like you would your favorite author.
Reading is a conversation at heart. We read books to understand a subject or someone’s point of view more, and their job is to communicate in a clear way that is easy for us to understand.
That’s the intro. It could all be crossed out but I as much as I want to share gratitude with you, I want to share myself. I want to share my spirit and words with you.
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude is the state of being thankful, expressing appreciation for something and used to return kindness.
Such a simple definition but it means so much. The definition lets you know gratitude carries weight. They should add gratitude will take you far in life. Gratitude will increase your quality of life. Not definitional, but it should still be there to let people know.
How to Practice Gratitude
What I love about the definition of gratitude is it tells you how to practice gratitude. I almost feel like you don’t need me now because you should know it all.
But to practice gratitude, all you have to do is express your appreciation for something.
YO.
That’s easy and sounds kind of fun.
A true practice of gratitude is not what all these experts are saying. You gotta do this and you gotta do that.
NO! I’m tired of that. Everyone has their own rules they live by and they should frame them as that — THEIR RULES, THEY LIVE BY. How they practice gratitude can be completely different from how you practice gratitude.
Don’t live by someone else rules on how to practice gratitude.
But for me — I think the best way anyone can start practicing gratitude on a daily basis is to just say thank you when you wake up. That simple.
Say thank you to the barista at Starbuck and say thank you to the cashier at Whole Foods.
Remember. They are there to help you. Return the kindness. See what I did there? I pulled from the definition.
Gratitude is saying thank you.
Benefits of Practicing Gratitude Daily
Happierhuman.com wrote an excellent article on the benefits of gratitude. Amazing. They include scientific sources for some of the benefits of gratitude.
A few I want to highlight:
- Gratitude makes us happier
- Gratitude makes people like us
- Gratitude makes us more optimistic
- Gratitude increase self-esteem
- Gratitude makes you look good, and everyone wants to look good. Put your gratitude on and you might get a couple of compliments.
Amazing article. 31 great benefits of gratitude. Check it out and become a happier human. 🙂
I can attest to these benefits, for two years (since 2017) I’ve practiced living my life with more gratitude by keeping a gratitude journal.
Gratitude Journal
My experience of keeping a gratitude journal has changed my life! I have more love for myself and I am more aware of my presence and how wonderful the things are that I have in my life.
I notice the smaller things in life, and I am more appreciative of everything I have and everything around me.
I start my journal entries every day by saying thank you. I woke up! People die in their sleep; think about that…I got another day to do things differently.
I have another day to try and better myself. I must be grateful for that. I went through a period where I took my life for granted and I made decisions that I wish I could take back.
Reflecting on those decisions I’m okay with them. I live with them because they helped me start this path towards gratitude and becoming more grateful.
After I say thank you for this brand-new day, I start by listing things I am grateful for:
- I am grateful for everything I have.
- I am grateful for the ability to listen and hear others.
- I am grateful for my job and the people I work with.
You get the idea. I think about everything I like about myself. I think about everything I like about the world.
I think about the personalities of the people around me and why I love having them in my life. You get the idea.
Every day I feel blessed about my life and I keep in my mind that today I am doing better than yesterday.
Transforming Your Life For the Better
The first step in transforming your life for the better, I think is to start keeping a gratitude journal and every day write down things you are grateful for. Start with being grateful for waking up in the morning.
Be grateful for your personality — list things about yourself you like. Appreciate you are the only you in the world. Nobody is like you.
Someone may be similar, but you are different. Be grateful for your hair and for the beautiful smile you have. Those practices might be best looking in a mirror.
The small gestures you do for others — you let that women get on the train before you this morning when you were in a rush to get to work.
You helped someone up after they fell. You do those things and so many more.
Be grateful for the good you do because you do a lot of good. You may not think it does, but those small gestures are helping someone else have a better day.
Do you see that? You are good. You are really good. I want to say you are great! Gratitude will help you notice your self-worth.
I highly suggest you go get a gratitude journal. And start writing about things you are grateful for. You can get a small gratitude journal that you can carry around with you.
Or if you want to be like me 🙂 use the Microsoft Word app, and anytime the urge to express gratitude hits you write it down in the app with the date for you to reflect on later.
Examples of when gratitude hits me — I can be riding on the subway to my job and I just realize I live in New York. I’m so grateful to live in New York, I love this city. I started to look at my clothes and saw how nicely they fit me and it’s like man, I’m grateful for the nice clothes I have. I walk into work and usually I am the first one there. I will sit at my desk and say I’m grateful for my job. I love my job.
A gratitude journal helps build momentum in your life. It’s a chance for you to say thank you for all the good in your life.
I listed a bunch of material or external things earlier but internal I’m grateful for my mind. I’m grateful for my health.
We all have a lot of things we can be grateful for but taking the time to be grateful for your mental health and physical health are important.
Use your gratitude journal to express appreciation for all the things you have and all the things you do.
Importance of Gratitude in Life
Scientific expert, Robert Emmon made a report in 2010 saying people who practice gratitude experience higher levels of positive emotions, are more alert, alive, and awake.
The psychological benefits of gratitude don’t stop there, practicing an attitude of gratitude can help you experience more joy and pleasure out of life.
Dr. Emmon also talks about how practicing gratitude can boost your social life. Practicing an attitude of gratitude will help strengthen your relationships with the people around you.
Instead of finding faults with your partner and loved one’s gratitude will help you appreciate them for where they are in their life.
Nobody is perfect and we all make mistakes.
Gratitude will help you be more forgiving, generous, and compassionate. Forgiving — you will start to notice the bigger picture in life and understand that nobody on earth is here to hurt you.
Everyone is trying to do the best they can with what they have. Generous — giving more of your time to the people that matter, even yourself because you matter!
Compassionate — feeling more sympathy and displaying more understanding to people who are suffering.
We all suffer. When you start to practice gratitude, you will start to understand your own suffering and how you can be more compassionate to yourself. You can be more helpful to your friends and family.
Attitude of Gratitude
Nothing is perfect though; an attitude of gratitude will not make your life perfect — just more appreciative of who you are and what you have.
It takes time and the road will be challenging but becoming more grateful can be one of the most rewarding things you do for yourself.
Practice daily. Start by writing a new note on your phone and put the date on it. You can do it on your commute to work if you take the subway.
Reverse it and you can write about all the things that you are grateful for at the end of the day.
You can be grateful that you made a new friend. Grateful for all the little things that made your day great.
Start today! You will look back and thank yourself a year from now.
The people around you will notice a change in your attitude, and you will develop deeper and stronger relationships with them.
Gratitude is a Life-Changing Habit
If you feel like you are in a place of uncertainty. Start writing about things that you are grateful about and keep these things at the forefront of your mind.
There is so much science behind the effects of gratitude and its all great.
But taking that stuff out of the equation. Use gratitude as a way to boost your own happiness and a way for you to grow.
I want to end with a quote from my dad, he probably got it from somewhere I’m not sure, but I was talking to him today and he said
“Being present is a gift and being there for people is a gift.”
I’m sharing this with you as a thank you for being here. Thank you being present.
Thank you for reading my blog post. 🙂
Please comment and share with your friends and family.
Originally published at https://meditatingmanatee.com on July 3, 2019.
