WHY YOU SHOULD START PRACTICING GRATITUDE AND HOW

Gratitude. It doesn’t seem to pass through a lot of lips these days.

Really though, how often does a wife tell her husband: I’m grateful for how hard you work for me and my family? Or, a child to his mother: Mom, I’m grateful for how deeply you care for me? You to your friend: I am grateful for the way you make me laugh? And how often does your heart sing with thankfulness?

In the large and the small, from the breath in your lungs to the home that covers your head, how often do we really sit down and truly feel grateful for what we have? 

People often make the assumption that in order to be grateful, we have to be meeting the standard of success we’ve built in our mind. We think or say things like: I would be grateful, but… [life has been unfair, difficult, trying, etc]. However, gratitude does not have to do with the circumstances you are in; but, with the posture of our hearts. The more we practice gratitude, the more grateful we can be through every up and down we face.

However, it can be hard to really know how to practice gratitude. How can you work on a feeling an emotion more? Below, you’ll find 5 simple ways you can implement gratitude in your everyday life.

Start a Gratitude Journal

Wake up every morning and write down 10 things you are grateful for. Add to your list every day and it will continue to get easier to think of what to write.

Make a Commitment to Say Thank You Every Day

You could try making a note in your gratitude journal, I will say thank you to_____ to help you stick with it. Saying thank you to at least one person every day grounds gratitude into your heart.

Avoid Negative Media and Movies

News, songs, movies, or TV shows that have an overall negative tone are not very uplifting. Avoid watching or listening to the things that make you feel angry or negative. We’re not saying that you shouldn’t listen to or watch any of that stuff, but we are saying to be careful about what you watch and listen to.

Set Daily Limits on your Phone

Utilize the new iPhone feature to set limits on your phone and social media use and stick with it. Social media, in general, is unproductive and tends to give us envy and jealousy about what we don’t have.

Write out Positive/Inspiring Quotes Around your House and Office

Find quotes you love and write them on notecards to post around the house, office, and wherever you spend your time: the bathroom, the dashboard of your car, the walls of your office are a few places you’d regularly see it. If you’re more artistic, spend time making the quotes look cute. 

In the famous words of Ferriss Bueller,

“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around every once in a while, you might miss it.”

Being grateful for things in our lives causes us to slow down, drink in the beauty of the world around us, and appreciate the moment we are in. 

What makes you grateful to be alive today?