A person who appreciates everything is truly grateful -that’s what having an attitude of gratitude is. It is when we understand that each day, whether good or bad, comes with a blessing. Every moment we spend with an attitude of gratitude, we learn to accept the way life truly is. With that, we focus on the good, whatever happens.
However, in learning how to be grateful, we should first be accepting and ready for the process. Gratitude requires a commitment to take effect. But once you get through that, it will surely pay off! After all, being happier is easier when you start your day feeling grateful.
To begin with, you should know what gratitude is about. We’ll be explaining the value of gratitude in our lives and how to apply it to daily life.
Why is Being Grateful Important?
Gratefulness allows us to spend our days filled with happier emotions and calmer thoughts. It eliminates negative energy around us by changing our perception of what’s around us. According to a study on gratitude for self-improvement, being grateful is an avenue for positive changes in behavior or thinking. In addition, it administers more pleasant thoughts and feelings.
Results from experiments and tests show how gratitude affects the lifestyle of an individual. One study finds their participants spent more of their time exercising after expressions of gratefulness. The researchers concluded that gratitude became a motivator to the individuals who participated, producing higher positive effects.
Being grateful involves giving as much as it does with receiving. People tend to feel grateful only when they obtain something good. But to have an attitude of gratitude, gratefulness should play a role even in the act of giving. Sharing feelings of love, care, and appreciation can make an impact on the people around you. It strengthens your bond with others and allows room for better communication -which is vital in keeping a healthy relationship. Doing this helps you with practicing expression while maintaining the spread of positive energy constant in your surroundings.
Developing an Attitude of Gratitude
Making gratitude a conscious habit is a real life-changer. The small practice of being appreciative of what’s around you teaches you other things in between. It includes learning to respond with love, expressing more positive feelings, and focusing on good outcomes.
Cultivating gratitude is not a process you should rush. You can take as much time as you need to change your perspective on being grateful. It starts with an act as little as saying thanks to other people and slowly develops into a part of your daily life.
Here’s a summary of a few practices to help you start establishing gratitude in your everyday:
Learn to Appreciate
The first step to gratitude is appreciation. Being more appreciative of what we have, big or small, helps us realize we receive a blessing each day. When we experience something so frequently, we tend to forget its value. So, in appreciating, we get a clearer picture of what surrounds us, letting us see that life is not so bad after all.
You can start this practice by showing you are thankful to the people around you, whether friends or family. A simple thank you will mean a lot to someone, even when there are no particular reasons. Gratitude is about expressing yourself positively rather than reasoning out why. And so, you can be thankful for someone without having a specific reason.
Taking your time to acknowledge the beauty around you is another way to practice appreciation. Spend a few minutes of your day looking at what is in front of you. Nature provides us with so much, from beautiful sights to sounds. When you find gratitude in them, you learn to be grateful for everything, big and small.
Express Gratitude Daily
Expression plays a valuable role in practicing gratitude. In communicating your gratefulness, actions work just as well as words do. The goal of expressing gratitude focuses more on the growth of positive emotions rather than informing others of how you feel.
One way to express yourself is by remembering three things to be grateful for each day. It can be written down or placed somewhere you can keep in mind. Practicing this habit every day will condition you into understanding that there is something to be grateful for any day.
A great platform for this practice is Three Things Daily, which helps you get into the habit of thinking up three things to be grateful for every day. The Three Things Daily community shares insights and lists their blessings on a gratitude wall. While giving you a space to express your gratitude, it also allows you to pass it on. The online gratitude wall is full of combined entries that members can look back at and reflect on.
Start a Gratitude Journal
Keeping a gratitude journal is a common practice in learning to be grateful. Starting with a gratitude journal will help you in finding what practice is most comfortable for you. In the journal, you could write different journal prompts such as questions, lists, or narratives.
The journal aims to present progress and give constant reminders on gratitude. When you have your entries written, you get to review how much improvement you have made. A gratitude journal is also good in helping you recall why you should be grateful.
For instance, if you are stressed, it would usually be harder to keep positive. Writing down what you were thankful for that day dismisses the negative energy you experienced. It focuses your mind on the good things that happened, and so, making the problem seem less taxing.
Final Thoughts
The positive impact of gratitude in our lives is truly life-changing. When we live with an attitude of gratitude, our eyes open up to a world much brighter than what we thought we knew. Being grateful brings in more happiness, both for ourselves and the people around us. And so, through developing an attitude of gratitude, we also gain a deeper understanding of true happiness.
