Why Today is a Great Day to Start Practicing Gratitude
Author: Clare Rudolph
Why Today is a Great Day to Start Practicing Gratitude
There are endless blogs about gratitude, and even if it’s cliche for a therapist to write about it, there is a very good reason I, and many others, choose to do so. A practice that includes gratitude is great for our health and well-being. My aim is to provide concrete evidence about the benefits of gratitude and ways to incorporate it into your life. There is a host of research about the benefits of gratitude, including but not limited to the physical, social and emotional benefits.
To start, please think of a person, place, or thing that fills you with gratitude. This can be something or someone you’re thankful to have in your life, whom you admire, or has impacted you positively. Let me offer you my own example: I’m thinking of my morning coffee I’m currently drinking. It’s warm, comforting and smells lovely. Once you have yours, commit it to memory and we’ll come back to it later. Now let’s explore some of the ways gratitude benefits overall well-being.
Physical Benefits
“This is a wonderful day. I have never seen this one before.” - Maya Angelou
One positive effect of gratitude is how it impacts our physical health. According to an article in the Journal of Health Psychology, Jackowska et al. (2015) report a consistent practice of gratitude helped improve sleep quality and lowered diastolic blood pressure. Furthermore, Dr. Robert Emmons, a Professor of Psychology at U.C. Davis has completed over a decade of research on the subject. He discovered an association between gratitude practice and stress reduction. Not only did he find that consistent gratitude lowered peoples’ perceived stress, he also found a relationship between gratitude practice and lowered cortisol levels (Emmons, 2016). As you may know, cortisol is known as the “stress hormone”, as it is a bodily reaction to stress. Therefore a practice of gratitude actually helps reduce stress in the body by lowering cortisol levels. Beyond the physical benefits, a consistent practice of gratitude can positively impact relationships as well.
2. Social Benefits
“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” - Albert Schweitzer
Gratitude is critically beneficial in strengthening relationships in different aspects of our lives. Can you recall a time someone truly thanked you and you felt genuinely appreciated? How did you feel afterwards? More supported, seen, or loved? Gratitude strengthens the connection of relationships we have with others and the one we have with ourselves. In the workspace, it can help build camaraderie among colleagues and teams. And in our personal relationships, a practice of gratitude builds trust and positive feelings. In addition to physical and social benefits, gratitude supports our emotional health as well.
3. Emotional Benefits
“Gratitude is a divine emotion: it fills the heart, but not to bursting; it warms it, but not to fever.” - Charlotte Brontë
Last but not least, a consistent practice of gratitude can improve our moods and help make us happier. This particular point is not meant to judge or minimize the hard, and sometimes painful, events and emotions we experience. Rather, it’s an encouragement to recognize the capacity we have to feel. We can be anxious or grieving or depressed, and still experience authentic gratitude. In fact, reaching for gratitude in difficult moments can help us cope with them. According to an article from Harvard Health Publishing, gratitude practice helps us focus on positive experiences, create resilience and highlight positive emotions. Instead of focusing on how our lives differ from others or on the things we don’t have, gratitude centers us around appreciation for what we do have and the people we love. By doing so, gratitude grounds us in the present.
“Always have an attitude of gratitude.” - Sterling K. Brown
Now that we know how gratitude can benefit our health and well-being, I’d like to share some ways to practice gratitude with intention and mindfulness. Keep in mind there’s really no right or wrong way to do these practices as long as you’re doing them with intention. Below are examples, but feel free to personalize the prompts and make them your own.
5 Ways to Practice Gratitude
“Three Good Things” - write down 3 positive things from your day or week. Complete this exercise consistently, either daily or weekly for a set amount of time –consider starting with daily for 1 week or weekly for 1 month. This exercise is also fun because once completed, you will have a record of all that you were grateful for throughout your time. It can be impactful to re-read and feelings of gratitude can resurface.
Gratitude Journal - set a specific time of day and amount of time to write about an experience, person, or place you’re grateful for in that moment. This can be a free write or you can use prompts (e.g. What is something positive you experienced recently? What is the highlight of your day so far? What are your favorite things about your neighborhood/city? What made you smile today? Who is someone you admire and what do you admire about them? What do you admire about yourself?)
Sensory Gratitude Practice - in this practice you’ll move through the five senses and spend time focusing on one at a time, and what you appreciate about them. For example, if you choose the sense of smell, consider a scent you’re grateful for. Does it have a particular meaning for you, does it bring you peace or calm? What about the smell brings you comfort or happiness? Continue with the remaining senses you are able.
Click here if you’d like a guided sensory gratitude practice.
Gratitude Walk - go for a walk with the intention of having a grateful state of mind. Spend a few moments grounding yourself with some deep breaths and then shift your mind to gratitude. Think of the ways your body serves you daily. Are you grateful for the physical capability to go on this walk? Visualize a body scan starting from your head and moving down. After settling in, you can move to focusing on your surroundings and similarly to the sensory practice consider the following: what colors are you seeing? What do you smell and hear? Do you feel the warmth of the sun or a breeze? What brings you energy or contentment on this walk? As a reminder, there’s really no right or wrong way to engage with this activity!
Write a letter of gratitude - write a letter to someone you love and admire. How have they impacted your life positively? What do you admire or love about them? You are welcome to mail it, read it out loud to them or keep it for yourself. Even if you don’t share it with them, the act of writing the letter completes the gratitude practice and the benefits remain.
To Wrap Up…
As with many things in life, creating a new and consistent practice can be easier said than done. Change won’t happen overnight and gratitude won’t immediately solve your problems. However, it might help change how you think and feel about the challenges in your life; and therefore, help you approach them more effectively when you face similar issues in the future.
Remember the person, place or thing you thought of earlier when you first started reading? I did say we’d come back and I’m grateful you’ve read this far. Now, I encourage you to start a practice of gratitude today. Choose one exercise listed above and spend a few minutes expressing thanks to the person, place, or thing you thought of earlier. There’s no wrong way to engage with this practice as long as you’re doing it with authenticity and intention. I hope by implementing this practice you feel more comforted and calm. Thank you for reading.
Emmons, R. A. (2016). Chapter 2: What is Good Gratitude? In The little book of gratitude: Create a life of Happiness and wellbeing by giving thanks (pp. 20–21). essay, Gaia Books Ltd.
Jackowska M, Brown J, Ronaldson A, Steptoe A. (2016) The impact of a brief gratitude intervention on subjective well-being, biology and sleep. Journal of Health Psychology; 21(10):2207-2217. doi:10.1177/1359105315572455
