Written by Alexa Rives, MA, LPCC
Staff Therapist, Pennock Center for Counseling
With the annual reminder to practice gratitude nearing, we would like to provide our readers with the opportunity to explore ways to improve and increase gratitude throughout your life and your year – not just for the holidays. Practicing gratitude has the potential to provide a multitude of practical benefits! Research has shown that it improves mood, benefits interpersonal AND intrapersonal relationships, and can even improve sleep and physical wellbeing too!
Though gratitude might be expressed more freely at times when we are receiving gifts, it is a practice that can be cultivated in our everyday lives to the benefit of ourselves and others. A few ways to incorporate gratitude could be:
- Keeping a gratitude journal
- Setting a gratitude intention each morning
- Writing gratitude letters to people in your life – or those who may have passed or who have grown distant in time
- Practicing guided gratitude focused meditations
There are many tips for keeping a gratitude journal to help you build and maintain the habit. Perhaps you could feel inspired by acquiring a journal or notebook specific for this purpose, but even a post-it note or a scrap of paper are sufficient for getting started with this practice. If it feels easier, you might start with a single item for which you feel grateful at the end of each day, taking time to reflect on the positive experiences throughout. Each gratitude can be as big or as small as feels right for you. In time, you might even push yourself to find 3 items of gratitude each day!
If journaling is not your thing, perhaps setting a gratitude intention each morning would feel more doable for you. This could look like sending yourself a text or an email in the morning with what you would like to pay gratitude towards in advance to start your day in a mindful and gracious way. If you like crafts, a creative way to set gratitude intentions could be getting a blank picture frame, fancy paper or an inspiring picture, and an erasable marker. On the paper in your frame, you can write a phrase like “Today I am grateful for: _____________”. In the morning, with the erasable marker on the glass of the frame, you can note where you are setting your gratitude intentions for the day and reflect on it again at night as you erase it to get ready for the next day.
Is there anyone who you would like to thank for their presence in your life? Consider writing them a gratitude letter, letting them know that you have appreciated their involvement and inspiration in your world. Even if this is not a letter that you will, or can, give to the person the letter is written for, you will still be offering yourself a chance to reflect more fully and graciously on the positive influences you have had through them.
There are seemingly countless ways to incorporate more gratitude practices into your life, some of which have been discussed above. Though this may not be a complete list, hopefully it has offered you inspiration on ways that you can make small changes in your life to incorporate gratitude and, potentially, initiate even greater change!