How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome

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Hello lovelies:

What if I told you that one simple habit could foster incredible changes? That it could positively alter you outlook, your mood and your overall happiness with a tiny addition to your daily routine? What if this little activity could also improve your health and help you to achieve a more restful night sleep? Would you be in?

Heck yes, right? I mean… who would say no to all of that awesome!

The good news is that creating a gratitude practice can do just that. And while it may seem a little daunting at first, it’s actually not hard at all!

Let’s take a look at how to practice gratitude and all of the goodness this self-care activity has in store for you…

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

Before We Get Started

Practicing gratitude is an amazing form of self care. And, fantastic news, there are lots of different ways that you can do it. But I know that sometimes the idea of fitting something new into your routine can be pretty daunting.

Don’t you worry!

Most of the gratitude activities we’re going to talk about today are quick and easy and will barely cause a blip in your routine.

But if you’re struggling to create a self-care routine that makes you feel awesome and aren’t sure how to make a gratitude practice work I’ve got a free self-care routine planner that can help.

Oh, and because dessert, in my opinion, is a wonderful form of self-care, there’s a free Healthy Dessert Recipe E-Book in there for you too.

You can get your hands on all of the free goodness right here:

Awesome, right? Now let’s learn about how to practice gratitude and all the goodness it has to offer…

How Practicing Gratitude Makes You Feel Awesome

Sometimes the simplest things have the most powerful impacts. And gratitude is no exception. While it may seem implausible, practicing gratitude is a magnificent, life altering activity that you can easily tap into.

Plus it typically only takes a few minutes per day and will eventually leave you feeling so giddy and blessed that you’ll wonder why you haven’t been doing this your entire life. That’s one giant pile of awesome friends! Are you as excited as I am to dive in?

Before we talk about how to practice gratitude let’s take a peek at what it has to offer your health and well-being. Because it’s always marvelous to know that you have a ton to gain.

Here’s what you can look forward to:

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

Practicing Gratitude Can Help You Sleep Better

Practicing gratitude can help you catch more Zzz! Seriously – One study looked at 400 adults of all ages, 40% of whom had sleep disorders, and found that gratitude is one powerful sleep aid! Those who learned how to practice gratitude fell asleep faster, slept longer and felt better throughout the day. Total win! (source)

Gratitude was related to having more positive thoughts, and fewer negative ones at bedtime. Which made it easier to fall asleep with ease. Because a racing, worried mind doesn’t exactly shut down easily.

Now if only this could help me when I have a song stuck in my head and can’t stop singing (thinking?) along instead of sleeping… Tell me I’m not alone!

Related: 7 Simple Self Care Tricks on How to Sleep Better

Practicing Gratitude Can Boost Your Mood

Training your mind to see the silver lining helps to reduce worry and nip pessimistic thoughts in the bud. (source)

Combine this with increased feelings of happiness and satisfaction and you’re working with gold (source).

One study even found that simply taking the time to acknowledge three good things that happened to you every day can drastically improve feelings of depression and increase overall happiness.

And gratitude works fast! Improvements in mood were seen in as little as two weeks. Isn’t that incredible? (source)

Practicing Gratitude Can Help You Be More Patient

That’s right! Looking on the bright side does a lot more than make you feel happy. You’ll find yourself feeling a lot more patient too.

A study from Northeastern University found that people who learned how to practice gratitude and appreciate the little things became more patient and made more sensible decisions. (source)

That’s a sweet little bonus, don’t you agree?

Practicing Gratitude May Improve Your Relationship

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

One of the cool things about gratitude is that it can be contagious. The goodness you foster will spread outward to those around you; when you are in a grateful, joyful space you spread that energy to friends and family.

But it goes further than that. 

When you feel grateful for your partner (and vice versa) you begin to feel more connected. And, super bonus, you develop more satisfaction in your relationship. It’s like this powerful relationship booster shot! (source)

Oh, and if you’re thinking of telling someone you love how grateful you are for them, go for it! Writing them a letter expressing your feelings of gratitude can boost your feelings of happiness (and theirs too of course). And saying it in person has an even more powerful affect. (source)

Everybody wins when we share our gratitude!

Practicing Gratitude Can Help With Self-Care

When you feel grateful for the little things and train your mind to see the silver lining you tend to make your own self-care a higher priority. And that’s not just me speculating! This study found that people who experienced higher levels of gratitude were more likely to make self-care a priority. Including important activities like exercise, healthy eating and visiting the doctor. Booyah!

It seems like there’s a strong correlation between feeling grateful and taking care of yourself. Which is pretty amazing, because self-care is so incredibly important and we all deserve a little more of it.

Related: 5 Super Simple Self Care Activities That Will Make You Feel Awesome

Practicing Gratitude Creates Lasting Happiness

Sometimes happiness is fleeting. You read a good book and the joy sticks with you for a bit, but fades away. The happy boost after an sweet compliment from a friend sticks with you for a while only to disappear.

It’s totally natural (we can’t be happy all the time after all). But the happiness created by a gratitude practice is a little different.

According to Emma Seppälä, Science Director for Stanford Center For Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, Co-Director of Wellness for the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, happiness researcher and author of The Happiness Track:

“Gratitude is something that leads to much more sustainable forms of happiness, because it’s not based in that immediate gratification; it’s a frame of mind,” (source)

And that’s the key.

When you learn how to practice gratitude you learn how to create a grateful state of mind. 

Practicing gratitude is about retraining your mindset and learning to marvel in awe at the goodness that surrounds you. Practice makes perfect; you will find that after a while you’ll be able to carry the essence of gratitude with you throughout the day.

Learning how to practice gratitude doesn’t mean that you’ll be happy all the time. You’ll continue to experience an array of emotions. Life happens and feelings like sadness and frustration are normal and healthy to express. A grateful mindset is not about denying your negative emotions. It’s about making gratitude your default setting.

But how do you do it? Let’s take a look at a few ways that you can practice gratitude.

How To Practice Gratitude

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

1. Appreciate The Little Things

It’s so important to know that practicing gratitude doesn’t mean that we focus on the big things. There are little things to be grateful for too. Tons and tons of them. And learning how to practice gratitude starts with appreciating it all and realizing that nothing is too small to be thankful for.

The things you feel grateful for can be as little as listening to your cat’s purr or as simple as enjoying the weather. Include everything and anything.

The smallest things can have the most powerful impact, after all. There’s gratitude to be had everywhere, so long as we’re willing to look.

2. Try To Find Gratitude In Difficult Situations

This one is admittedly hard. And sometimes it’s easier to find gratitude in a difficult situation after the fact. We’re able to reflect on a negative experiences and see how it helped to shape us into the fantastic people we are today.

When you’re ready, it’s so worth it to take a moment to revisit some past hardships, dig deep and find a silver lining.

This little gratitude practice has done so much for me.

I always say that I’m grateful for Graves Disease. And I’ve certainly received my fair share of confused responses to that. While I wouldn’t consider this incurable illness a gift (because I definitely wouldn’t give it to you), it’s helped to shape who I am.

Graves Disease taught me to love and value myself, make my health and well-being a priority and feed myself with kindness. It changed my outlook and it changed me. It’s even the reason I started Ms. Health-Esteem and began to work to inspire others to love themselves and cherish their health too.

While being so ill was an incredibly difficult experience, mentally, physically and emotionally, I wouldn’t be who I am today without it. This autoimmune disease has been an amazing teacher. And for all of that I am grateful.

While I definitely wasn’t ready to come to this realization early on, learning how to practice gratitude included reflecting on my autoimmune journey and coming to this conclusion.

Super bonus, it’s helped me come to terms with my illness. Seeing things in a new, grateful light allowed me to move forward with more positivity than I ever could have imagined.

Isn’t is wonderful how powerful a little grateful reflection can be?

Related: Celebrating 5 Years with Graves Disease and Tips to Build Your Best Life

3. Gratitude Journal

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

This sweet little self-care activity helps you create a wonderful gratitude foundation. I’m personally very tactile and love to write (shock and awe!) Gratitude journaling is one of my favourite ways to maintain a positive mindset. Plus, when you write things down they tend to stick.

Gratitude journaling is something you can easily add to your self-care routine. All you need is a journal, a pen and about 10 to 15 minutes to jot down some goodness.

Write down what you’re grateful for, who you are undeniably blessed to be surrounded by and positive quotes and affirmations that make you exude joy. It may be difficult at first, but you will find that your list will grow every time you sit down to create one.

You may be wondering how to practice gratitude journaling.

It can definitely be a little strange in the beginning. I know I was lost when I started!

You can absolutely pick up a blank journal and go to town! But if you need a guide to help you get started I highly recommend this gorgeous Gratitude Journal:

Gratitude Journal: 100 Days of Gratitude Will Change Your Life by the brilliant Natalie Fox is a lovely tool to get you started on your Gratitude journey.

Consider this book a guide walking you through your daily Gratitude Practice. The journal provides you with a space for daily declarations of gratitude, positive affirmations and love.

And it leaves tons of room to get creative, so you may want to dust off your pencil crayons if you’re so inclined. As if that weren’t enough awesomeness packed in one marvelous book, you will also find motivational quotes and extra joy inducing activities throughout.

This is one habit you won’t want to quit after 100 days. I personally adore my 100 Days of Gratitude Journal. And you can bet your bippy I bust out my pencil crayons and go to town. Colouring is good for you! 😉

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

This is my copy of 100 Days of Gratitude! It’s pretty full of goodness and always puts a smile on my face 🙂

Want to get your hands on a copy?

You can get it here on Amazon Canada and here on Amazon.com

4. Practice mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness means that we are present in the moment. It includes focusing on what’s happening inside of your body and your mind and/or bringing your awareness to the world around you. But, most importantly, mindfulness is about being present and aware without criticism or judgment.

And you can easily use mindfulness as a wonderful way to practice gratitude. 

Sit down for a few minutes and think about a few things you’re grateful for. If you find yourself struggling, start small. Even focusing on 1 or 2 things can have a huge impact.

Picture those things in your mind and allow yourself to really feel your gratitude. Sit with it for a few minutes and let that feeling take over.

You can take this one step further and meditate on those feelings, taking deep breaths in and out and focusing on all of the beautiful things (big and small) that make you feel grateful. The coolest thing is that doing this on the regular can actually rewire your brain, helping you naturally feel more happy and grateful. So cool, right? (source)

Trust me, it will leave you feeling so awesome you’ll be hooked. I have a whole post about mindfulness meditation waiting for you right here if you’d like to know how to get started.

How to Practice Gratitude and Feel Awesome | 5 Gratitude Activities for Adults (and Children) that make the perfect addiction to your self care routine. We're talking mindfulness meditation, gratitude journaling, expressing gratitude and so much more. Gratitude is an important part of your healthy lifestyle, supporting your mental health, helping your sleep better, increasing your patience, improving your relationships, creating lasting happiness and so much more. Click through to learn more:

Related: 5 Ways Mindfulness Meditation Supports Your Health And How to Get Started

5. Express Gratitude

One of the easiest pieces of advice that I can give you on how to practice gratitude is to simply express it. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, because expressing gratitude to the people you love only helps to make you feel more grateful (and makes them feel damn good too!)

If that sounds too good to be true, check this out:

This experiment found that when someone writes a letter expressing their gratitude to someone their levels of happiness increase by 2 to 4%. Even better, if they told the person how they felt over the phone they felt even better (4 to 19% to be exact).

Telling someone you’re grateful for them is good for both of you.

Express that gratitude and enjoy all the good feels. You deserve it!

What’s your favourite tip on this ‘How to Practice Gratitude List’? Did any of the health benefits surprise you? What advice would you add to the list? Share your goodness with us in the comments below!

Health and love,

sara-signature

Thought of the day: I greet the world with a grateful heart, reveling in the wonders that surround me. 

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A HUGE thank you to Natalie Fox for sharing her marvelous Gratitude Journal with us. I’ve had a blast filling the pages with gratitude.

Treat yourself to a copy here on Amazon Canada and here on Amazon.com

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Sara | Ms. Health-Esteem

Sara Flanagan is a wellness writer and the creator of www.mshealthesteem.com, where she shares her story of being diagnosed with Graves Disease, a chronic autoimmune disease, and empowering herself to do everything she can to thrive in spite of her diagnosis. She writes articles on self-love, acceptance, wellness and nutrition. Join the Health-Esteem Family today and share in the journey.

33 Comments

  1. Reply

    Nicole

    August 22, 2018

    What a great activity to practice self care, there are so many benefits! Personally, I like to write about it! I can wait to take a look at Natalie’s gratitude journal, it sounds incredible ❤

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      I’m so happy that you have a gratitude practice that makes you feel awesome Nicole! Isn’t it wonderful how much Gratitude Journal boosts your mood? I’m a writer too. It always makes things stick for me. I hope that you adore Natalie’s journal! I’ve been having a lot of fun filling mine out :). Let me know what you think!

  2. Reply

    Jamie

    August 22, 2018

    Gratitude is such a beautiful thing. It is so important to show your thankfulness to others and for others. I find so much happiness when someone thanks me for something I did for them- it’s better than most other things. I find it hurtful when they don’t. I love the idea of practicing gratitude for all the good in your life especially when things get hard. Being able to appreciate the happy things amidst the sad is a beautiful gift to yourself and others. As always this is such a lovely post <3 Jamie

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      I couldn’t agree with you more Jamie! It’s so simple and yet it’s so incredibly powerful. I find that so beautiful. Sometimes the simplest things (like simply thanking someone) are the most magical.

      And I’m also right there with you on feeling hurt when someone doesn’t share their thanks in certain situations. That can definitely sting. I think most of us feel that way? When you put a lot of time, effort and care into something for someone a simple “thank you” goes a long way. And really makes everyone feel good.

      I hope that you have a gratitude practice of your own that makes you feel wonderful hun! You deserve it <3. Thank you as always for your love and support! I really appreciate it :). Sending tons of love your way!

  3. Reply

    Brooke

    August 22, 2018

    Gratitude is always an awesome thing to incorporate into your life. I made an agreement with myself this year to practice and be more mindful of all the things. So far, it has done nothing but amazing things. It’s interesting when you change your mindset on how life happens, how much more beauty there is to see. Thanks for sharing!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      Oh what a wonderful gift to give yourself Brooke! I love it! And I am so happy to hear that you’ve been experiencing so many wonderful things thanks to practicing gratitude and mindfulness. Such simple things and yet they have such a powerful impact! That’s so wonderful!

      I hope that your gratitude journey continues to amazing you! Sending tons of love you way <3

  4. Reply

    Karla | littleconquest.com

    August 22, 2018

    This is such a great post! I always try to be positive, helpful and thankful! It really does do wonders for the soul! ?

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      That’s so marvelous Karla! You’ve got a trifecta of awesome right here! It’s pretty amazing how the simplest things sometimes have the most powerful impact. Wishing you a beautiful day! Thank you so much for your kind words 🙂

  5. Reply

    athorp9708

    August 23, 2018

    Love doing my gratitude journal daily (sometimes I forget…..but I try!)

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      It’s ok to not to it every single day! I get busy and don’t get the chance to on occasion too. Sometimes the best self-care is giving ourselves permission to slow down and do nothing (or, in the very least, less). I’m so happy you enjoy this beautiful gratitude practice on the regular! It really is a wonderful thing :).

  6. Reply

    lacyngo

    August 23, 2018

    Practicing gratitude is life changing! I couldn’t agree with this post more!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      Isn’t it magical? I’m so happy you think so too :). I hope your gratitude journal is overflowing with goodness today! Thank you tons for your kind words <3

  7. Reply

    janna

    August 24, 2018

    I definitely try to practice daily gratitude, it definitely helps to boost my mood!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      That’s awesome Janna! I’m so happy to hear that. You deserve to have lots of go-to self-care activities that make you feel wonderful <3.

  8. Reply

    Jessica

    August 25, 2018

    This is such a great topic and I love hay you cite your sources so clearly!!! It’s very professional and helps give this subject more credibility ? also I think your blog title is SO CUTE!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      You are the sweetest Jessica! Thank you :). I really pride myself on doing research and providing sources so that everyone has the opportunity to look into things further on their own. There’s so much misinformation out there and I want to do my best to not contribute to that issue. I’m really happy you noticed and appreciated it <3. Thank you tons!

      And! I'm so happy you enjoy my sites name! I was pretty excited when I came up with in. I grew up in a house full of puns and plays on words. So this felt right.

      I'm so grateful for you today and all of your kindness. Thank you! Wishing you well <3

  9. Reply

    Sapna

    August 28, 2018

    I love the “thinking of three great things that happened to me today”idea!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      That’s awesome Sapna! I hope that you enjoy adding this wonderful form of self-care to your regular routine. Wishing you well!

  10. Reply

    simplyshannonagins

    August 29, 2018

    Practicing gratitude is a new priority for me, no matter how rough a day is. I’m not always as mindful as I’d like to be, but that’s why it’s called a “practice” right? haha Great post and seriously so important for living a happy and fulfilled life!

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      Yes! You’re right on the money Shannon! We’re all practicing. There’s no real destination. Everyone has good days and bad days, but the point is that we take it one step at a time and keep trying. I’m really happy that you look at it that way. I think that’s a beautiful way to look it at and such a wonderful form of self-love. We all need to be more gentle and patient with ourselves <3.

  11. Reply

    Theresa | Bridesmaids Confession

    August 29, 2018

    It is so important to be thankful for the things we have. I’ve been trying to focus on that lately. I do notice when I write it down it’s more effective than just thinking of it.

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      I couldn’t agree more Theresa! As a writer I usually find myself gravitating towards pen and paper. I makes things stick for me. I’m happy I’m not alone :D. I’m so happy you have a gratitude practice that makes you feel awesome ^^

  12. Reply

    Sheila Price

    August 29, 2018

    Yes, yes, and yes! Gratitude is a game changer for getting more joy out of life. So often, we are trying to pursue happiness, when it’s right there in front of us ready for us to grasp.

    • Reply

      Sara

      August 31, 2018

      You’re right on the money Sheila! Goodness is all around us if we’re willing to take a look. I’m so glad that you see it that way too <3

  13. Reply

    Bushra's Lifestyle Blog

    September 23, 2018

    Sara, that’s very interesting and insightful post. I absolutely need to remind myself about self love. Being very busy with work, kids, family as, a woman it’s easy to forget about valuable stuff. Thanks for sharing.

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