Practicing Gratitude

Practicing Gratitude

By Ellen Walford

Gratitude is being thankful, grateful, and showing kindness. With gratitude people acknowledge the goodness in their lives. Gratitude not only helps you feel more positive, but it also allows you to relish good experiences. Practicing gratitude also improves mental health, self-esteem, and social connection.
People feel and express gratitude in multiple ways and practicing gratitude every day will make you feel more positive.

We’re going to run you through a few different ways you can practice gratitude daily:

Start a Gratitude Journal
As you know at SDC we know the importance of writing down your thoughts and getting them out of your head and on to page. So, one way to practice gratitude is to start a gratitude journal.

Keeping a gratitude journal will allow you to write down all the things you are thankful for. This is a great way to keep track of your gratitude practice and refer to the positives in your life. Use your gratitude journal to write down your positive thoughts. Journaling is a great way to practice gratitude because when you are putting your pen to paper you are consciously thinking about the words you are writing down. Therefore, you will be focused on the positive things in your life.

You can use your gratitude journal every day and you can also refer to it weekly or monthly and reflect on things you are grateful for.

Remember: being grateful can make you happy but being happy can also make you grateful.

Spend Time with Your Friends and Family

Another way to practice gratitude is to spend time with your friends, family, and the people you care about. Not only will this help you grow closer to them and strengthen your relationships, but it will also give you a chance to practice your acts of gratitude on the people that you care about.

Meditation

Meditation is a great way to practice gratitude and mindfulness. You can use gratitude meditation to visualise all the things in your life that you are grateful for. There are lots of advantages to meditating, and these advantages amplify when you take the time to target your reasons for gratitude. You can practice gratitude meditation in the morning before you start work or in the evening when you are winding down.

Appreciate Everything in Life

Gratitude doesn’t have to be saved for the “big” things in life. The habit of being grateful starts with appreciating every good thing in life and recognising that there is nothing too small for you to be thankful for. Even if it’s something as simple as appreciating the clear weather, don’t leave anything out when practicing your gratitude. It’s important to appreciate the small things in life as well as the ‘big’ things.


Give Back
Another way to practice gratitude is to give back to your community. One way to do this is by volunteering in your local area. By giving back to your community, you’ll feel more grateful for the things you have, and you’ll increase your own well-being by helping others.

We hope you enjoyed this blog post; we would love to hear how you practice gratitude. Get in touch on Instagram @shedidcollective_uk and let us know.