Seven Easy and Effective Ways to Increase Gratitude in Your Life

The Thanksgiving season serves as a reminder to focus on gratitude and appreciation, but practicing gratitude habits year-round has serious benefits to your well-being. Intentionally prioritizing time and creating space in your life and daily routines to focus on the things and people that you are thankful for cultivates a powerful shift in both your mindset and overall happiness.

In fact, making the conscious choice to approach each day and experience with gratitude can have a significant impact on your mental health, emotional health, social health, and even physical health. Benefits of consistently implementing gratitude practices include:

• Increasing overall feelings of happiness and contentment
• Reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety
• Increasing intimacy in friendships, families, and relationships
• Increasing sensitivity and empathy for others
• Increasing self-esteem and self-worth
• Improving physical health by lowering stress

For all of the positive outcomes, creating easy and effective habits that increase gratitude in your life is surprisingly easy. Small but consistent steps lead to significant positive changes in mindset and mood. Cultivating a level of appreciation in your life that will make you happier and healthier doesn’t have to be complicated. These seven practices can help you get started.

Start each day with a few moments of gratitude

Each morning, before you are pulled into the many tasks and distractions of your day, carve out five minutes to meditate on the things that you have in your life to be grateful for. It might be the people with whom you share your life and love. Focus on the privilege that it is to know them and love them. It might be the things that you have but often take for granted, the simple blessings in your life like a roof over your head, food to eat, water to drink, the opportunity to chase your own dreams. Taking a moment to consciously recognize and appreciate the abundance of things that you do have, instead of allowing your mind to focus on the things that you don’t have, will help you to start your day with more joy and positivity.

Slow down and smell the roses (or even just your coffee)

As you go through your day, be mindful of the beautiful and positive things around you and take the time to appreciate them. Even if it is just taking an extra moment to truly savor and appreciate your morning coffee, the colors of the sunrise, or the smell of fresh flowers – little moments of gratitude add up to bigger feelings of well-being and contentedness.

Take your gratitude outside

Daily gratitude walks are a great opportunity to intentionally focus on being mindful and appreciative of nature and the world around you. Take your time and pay attention to what you see, feel, and smell. Use your senses and thoughts to be fully present in your surroundings and shift your perspective to experience each element with appreciation. Focus on the fresh air that you are breathing, the sun or wind on your skin, the sights and sounds in your neighborhood or on a nature trail near where you live, and all of the atoms and objects and other living things surrounding you.

Keep a gratitude journal or jar

At the end of each day, write down one thing that you are grateful for in a journal, on slips of paper to keep in a jar, or on your digital device. Whether it is a small pleasure or a large victory, like a warm blanket on a chilly afternoon or significant good news about a large concern you had been carrying, writing the things that you appreciate each evening adds value to your day and positively impacts your mindset. The habit will also inspire you to pay attention more closely throughout each day for the thing that you are most grateful for and plan to jot down. (Bonus: the gratitude jar is a great activity to do with children! Prompting them to draw or write one thing that they are grateful for each day can be a fun arts & crafts activity that will also cultivate a high level of appreciation.)

Express appreciation to others

One surefire way to increase the level of gratitude in your own life is to express it to others. Write a thank you card, send a text, or make a phone call to tell someone in your life that you appreciate what they have done for you or who they are to you. Often, the gifts we receive in relationships are overlooked, taken for granted, or silently and subconsciously appreciated. Think about what the people in your life bring to your life – and thank them for it.

Lend a helping hand

Take your gratitude practice one step further by putting it into action. Reach out to a loved one in need. Offer your time and talents to your community. Get involved with local volunteer organizations. Whether it is by lending an ear to a friend experiencing a challenge or showing up to be a helping hand at an event or cause that you care about, giving to others increases the abundance that you have in your own life.

Weekly reflections and intentions

At the start of each week, reflect on the previous week as you plan and prepare for the new one. Identify one thing that you learned or a change that you experienced in the last week. Recognizing that change is an opportunity for growth and new experiences can help to shape an abundance mindset. An abundance mindset enables you to feel excited and grateful for changes (even challenges) by viewing them as opportunities to grow, excel, and to create more positive outcomes. Using that mindset, also identify one thing that you are excited about or looking forward to in the upcoming week. If you are struggling to identify something in the week ahead that you are excited about, take positive action by planning an activity that you enjoy and can look forward to – it can be as simple as planning a cozy movie night at home to watch a new flick or rewatch an old favorite, having your favorite meal, or scheduling a visit with a friend or family member. Create space for things that you enjoy.

Let the appreciation and excitement for what and who you already have, for the changes, lessons, and growth that you have experienced, and for all that is yet to come in your life propel you into a positive day, week, and year – filled with gratitude.