4 Ways Gratitude Will Change Your Life

25th January 2023

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It is easy to focus on the negative things in life. Often friendships thrive on gossiping and dwelling on negative situations or events.

Finding small things each day to be grateful for is a great way to change your mindset, build your confidence and improve your health. An abundance of research shows that practicing gratitude for 30 days improves your wellbeing and happiness.

If your wellbeing improves, then there is greater motivation, and you are in a better state to make positive changes in your life.

There is plenty of research to support the benefits of making gratitude a habit. Froh, Sefick, & Emmons (2008) reported that keeping a gratitude journal leads to ‘Increasing your optimism and, indirectly, your happiness and health.’

In 2003, Emmons & McCullough reported gratitude journaling as ‘Boosting your long-term well-being, encouraging exercise, reducing physical pain and symptoms, and increasing both length and quality of sleep.’

In 2005, Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson reported gratitude journaling as ‘Making you friendlier, more open, and more likely to engage in prosocial behaviours, which can enhance and expand your social support network.’

Here are 4 ways gratitude will change your life:

1. Gratitude encourages positive thinking

We can only think one thought at a time. If you are spending your time being grateful and appreciative of the things around you, it means that you are feeding your mind and body with positivity.

Practicing an attitude of gratitude encourages you to focus on the things you do have in your life rather than those things that you do not. By focusing on the positive, you start to attract more positive things to your life.

2. Being grateful creates more moments to be grateful for

As you travel through your day, try to focus on ’10 moments’ – the times when you are feeling your happiest and your best. These moments become the highlights and story of your day and provide sources of gratitude for you.

Try to fill your day with opportunities for 10 moments. As you start recognising the moments that light you up and make you feel great, they will become more abundant to you. Recording these moments or sharing these moments with those around you helps attract more positivity to you and more moments to be grateful for.

Happiness is a habit

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3. Being grateful helps you dream well

Consider leaving a note pad by your bed. Recording 3-5 things you are grateful for before bed encourages us to drift off to sleep with a positive mindset. This can help impact the quality and length of our sleep.

Waking up and starting your day with an attitude of gratitude sets the day up to be positive.

4. You will feel happier

From ‘The Secret Daily Teachings’, Gratitude can transform your life.

Remember, if you are criticizing, you are not being grateful.
If you are blaming, you are not being grateful.
If you are complaining, you are not being grateful.
If you are feeling tension, you are not being grateful.
If you are rushing, you are not being grateful.
If you are in a bad mood, you are not being grateful.

As you build your gratitude, you will be able to strengthen it like a muscle over time.

Are you allowing minor things to get in the way of the life you deserve? Investing time and energy in your mindset can be a key factor in improving your health and happiness. Gratitude can make a significant difference to your mental health and wellbeing.

Our thoughts create our reality

Only we are in charge of how we allow ourselves to think and feel, and in order to push away the negative feelings we can surround ourselves with and learn to live a grateful life, we must take responsibility and not attach our happiness on anyone else.

There is power in focusing on small positive moments and positive things. Gratitude truly can change our life!

Treat yourself you to a new notebook to keep by your bed, get a new pen just for you and allow yourself to take this time to work on gratitude for your life. Keeping a gratitude journal can be a great way to look back at the wonderful things in your life when you need a positivity boost.