Gratitude
Gratitude is a powerful force. It's a positive emotion that makes you happier, healthier, and more optimistic about your future. Studies show that practicing gratitude can do everything from lower stress levels to help with anxiety and depression. But it's not always easy to find things to be grateful for—especially when life gets tough (which it inevitably does).
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation. It's the art of being grateful, but it can also be a practice and a lifestyle. The more we are aware of the things we have in our lives, the happier we will feel.
Gratitude is the act of being thankful for something. It is a positive emotion. It can be expressed as a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation, usually in response to another person's actions on your behalf.
Appreciation is recognizing and appreciating something good or valuable, but not necessarily thanksgiving or gratitude; it may not involve any awareness that someone has done something specifically for you (as opposed to being generally good).
In other words, gratitude refers to a feeling of thankfulness toward someone who has helped us or done us a favor; appreciation can also express itself as an awareness that what we're experiencing/seeing/doing is beautiful/interesting/etc., even if no one else was involved in bringing about these experiences—for example: seeing beautiful scenery during an outdoor hike by ourselves might cause us to feel appreciation at nature's beauty rather than gratitude toward some other person who brought us there on her initiative (even though gratitude would still be appropriate if someone had done just this!).
Gratitude can also help you feel less stressed! Gratitude has been shown to reduce stress by as much as 10 percent on average, which is pretty huge!
The benefits of gratitude
When you're feeling grateful for the little things in life, it can help you feel more optimistic about the future. Gratitude helps you to focus on the positive aspects of your life and gives you a sense of control over what happens next. Feeling grateful also reduces stress levels, making it easier for us to relax and enjoy our time with family or friends.
It's not just good news when we're thankful; it's also beneficial to others around us. A person who feels grateful is more likely to be patient with others' foibles or mistakes because they recognize that everyone struggles with something at some point in their lives—and that no one has perfect solutions all the time!
Why is it hard to be grateful?
Gratitude is a habit; like all habits, it takes time and practice to develop. When you're busy with life and don't have time to focus on your thoughts, being grateful can be an afterthought—you're trying to remember what gifts you have in your life instead of actively looking for them.
When distracted by our phones or other things happening around us, we rarely stop long enough for our brains to process these small moments of appreciation before they fly by us unnoticed. And if something bad happens that makes us feel negative emotions like anger or sadness, those feelings can easily take over our mindset, so much so that we don't even notice anything good happening around us during the day!
Finally, sometimes even when we practice gratitude on some level (intentionally or not), it seems almost too good to believe: Am I allowed? Do I deserve this? Can my life be this amazing? When we question whether or not something is true because it feels too good/easy/perfectly aligned with what we want right now (whatever "right now" may mean), then there's no way for our minds' filters not to block out any positive ideas whatsoever!
That's why we've put together this list of ways to practice gratitude even if you feel nothing brings you joy anymore.
How to practice gratitude
Here are some ways to practice gratitude (and get into the habit of noticing the good in your life):
Practicing gratitude through journaling
Journaling is a super-easy way to practice gratitude. It can be as simple as writing down five things you're grateful for in your day, or it can be a part of your morning routine where you spend five minutes journaling about the previous day.
Here's how:
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Pick what works best for you—a notebook, an app, or social media. If you want something more "grown up," consider getting a Moleskine notebook (and maybe even going full Hemingway with it). If social media is more up your alley, write daily on Facebook or Twitter—or even just tweet once every few days! The point is that whatever method works best for YOU should be used since there are no right answers here; only what feels good does work!
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Look for five things each day that you're grateful for;
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Think of three things each week that you're grateful for;
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Share with friends and family one thing you're grateful for each month. It can be anything from your favorite food to a new hobby or even something as simple as having someone close by who makes their presence known when they walk into a room with their laugh or smile on their face (or both).
Gratitude can make you happier, but getting started can take some practice.
Gratitude can make you happier. But it can take some practice to get started.
Researchers found that people who practiced gratitude were more likely to experience positive and fewer negative emotions than those who didn't. This can help reduce stress and anxiety and increase life satisfaction and happiness overall.
So, what have we learned? Gratitude is good for us. And it’s good for you to practice gratitude because it will make you happier and healthier. But remember that you can't just think grateful thoughts; you have to say them out loud or write them down on paper before they affect your life or happiness levels. So get started today by looking over these journaling prompts and finding one that works best for where you are right now!
