How to practice gratitude 

Practicing gratitude has incredible results, from improving our mental health to promoting our relationships with others. Explore ways to make you more Grateful in our gratitude awareness guide.

It is not difficult to develop the ability to be grateful. It just requires practice. The more you can focus on the things you are grateful for, the more you will notice and feel grateful.

Practicing gratitude can change the rules of the game-it has profound effects, from improving our mental health to promoting our relationships with others. Living with a grateful heart will help you notice small gains, such as a bus arriving on time, a stranger pulling your door, or sunlight coming in through a window when you wake up in the morning. Each of these small moments comes together to form a network of happiness, which over time will enhance your ability to notice good things. 

(1) Start with observation

See what you said thank you. How common is this reaction? Is it sloppy, an afterthought? How do you feel when you express appreciation in small transactions? Stressed, nervous, and a little upset? Take a quick scan of your body-have you started the next interaction? 

(2) Choose an interaction every day

When your instinct to say "thank you" comes up, stop and write it down. Can you say what you are grateful for, even beyond the extended posture? Then thank you.

Robert Emmons, professor of psychology and gratitude researcher at the University of California, Davis, explained that practicing gratitude has two key components: 

(1) We affirm the good things we receive and 

(2) We acknowledge that other people are bringing goodwill to our lives. 

Most of us know that it is important to express our gratitude to those who help us or silently acknowledge the things we are grateful for in life. Research links gratitude to a wide range of benefits, including boosting the immune system and improving sleep patterns, feeling optimistic and experiencing more happiness and joy, being more helpful and generous, and reducing loneliness and isolation. 

Are you interested in reaping some of these benefits? 

-Start with gratitude exercises.

Ten ways to practice daily gratitude

 As Jon Kabat-Zinn said, "Little things? Little things? They are not small." Saying thank you, opening the door for someone, these small moments can change the tone of the day. 

One of the most effective ways to reconnect your brain for more happiness and less stress is to focus on gratitude. Here are 10 simple ways to make you more grateful:

(1) Write a gratitude journal. Establish daily exercises to remind yourself of the gifts, graces, benefits, and good things you enjoy. Remembering moments of gratitude related to common events, your personal attributes, or valuable people in your life, makes it possible for you to weave sustainable gratitude themes into your life. 

(2) Remember the Bad. Be grateful for your current state and remember the difficult times you have experienced. When you think back to how difficult life was in the past and how far you have traveled, you will establish a clear contrast in your mind. This contrast is fertile ground for gratitude.

(3) Ask yourself three questions. Use the following three questions to think about your relationship with parents, friends, siblings, colleagues, children, and partners: "What did I get from __?", "What did I give __?" and "I caused What are the problems and difficulties?" 

(4) Share your gratitude with others. Studies have found that expressing gratitude can strengthen interpersonal relationships. So next time your partner, friend, or family member does something you are grateful for, be sure to let them know.

(5) Wake up. Through our senses, touch, sight, smell, taste, and hearing abilities, we understand the meaning of human beings and the incredible miracles of living. From the perspective of gratitude, the human body is not only a miraculous structure but also a gift.

(6) Use visual reminders. Because the two main obstacles to gratitude are forgetfulness and lack of mindfulness, visual reminders can be used as clues to trigger gratitude thoughts. Usually, the best visual reminder is other people.

(7) Swear to practice gratitude. Research shows that taking an oath to perform a certain behavior increases the likelihood of performing that behavior. So, writing your own vow of gratitude can be as simple as "I promise to count my blessings every day" and post it in the place that reminds you every day. 

(8) Pay attention to what you say. Grateful people have a special language style, using gifts, givers, blessings, blessings, luck, luck, and rich language. In gratitude, you should not pay attention to your natural goodness, but to pay attention to the essentially good things others have done for you. 

(9) Appreciation actions include smiling, thanking, and writing a thank-you letter. By "making gratitude gestures," you will trigger gratitude more frequently. 

(10) Think outside the box. If you want to make the most of the opportunity to exercise your gratitude muscles, you need to creatively find new situations and environments to express gratitude. Share the creative ways you have discovered to help you practice gratitude.

Try This 5-Minute Gratitude Meditation

(1) Taste good. Adjust your senses on days when it is difficult to find gratitude. This meditation invites you to cultivate gratitude by slowing down and paying attention to what you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. You don’t have to have anything special to practice gratitude; it may be as simple as being grateful for morning coffee or a good book. Explore this simple exercise to appreciate the little things. 

(2) Use your breath to anchor yourself in the present. Our minds are always so easy to be occupied. Pay special attention to feeling your breath, or something in your body, when you lower your shoulders and turn your attention to gratitude.

(3) Next, remember some things you are grateful for. Through your senses, find something that you like to come to you from the visual world, if you have one. It can be a color...a shadow...a shape...a movement. Remember, this will never happen again. What do you see now, no matter what, can you be grateful for seeing this? 

(4) Now, change to a fragrance you like. As you continue to work with your senses, now take a moment to appreciate a smell. What did you notice? What about that wonderful, funny, or subtle smell that makes you smile? It may be gratitude for something familiar: it brings a comfortable, refreshing fragrance; or it may be something you have never smelled before, it just arouses your curiosity, excites you, and encourages you. 

(5) Go ahead and listen to the sounds around you. Let the scent world gently recede into the background, take a breath, and turn your attention to the ears and the sound world. You may notice the feeling of actual listening. How many sounds can you notice, and would you be grateful if you could experience them? Can you notice these sounds from a distance? shut down? Maybe you can play a piece of music and feel happy and grateful for your free time? Or maybe it's the laughter of children, the breathing of your loved ones, the sound of your own heartbeat.

(6) The world of touch and texture beckons us next. We found a lot of contact ways to thank! If someone around you can hug or can hug you, see how this makes you grateful for the joy of being in contact with others. Or maybe you have a beautiful pet that you can pet and hug, or have some lovely materials that are warm to the touch, soft, and evocative. Let your senses ignite your gratitude! There are many things to appreciate. 

(7) Switch to paying attention and admiring the surrounding objects. Now, take a moment to look around: look down, look up, and look left and right. Appreciate how much effort you have to put into anything you own or wear. Some people have conceived the needs, and many people have worked on the details of the design. Even the packaging is very careful to deliver your items to you safely. How do you feel when you let yourself be grateful for all of these to make your life easier?

(8) At the end of this exercise, be with you with this gratitude attitude. One last thank you tip: Why not thank everyone who did something for you today? Even if it is their job to help you? When you are grateful, when you are open and grateful, see how it makes you feel grateful. 

(9) End with gratitude. I am grateful that you have adjusted to this kind of gratitude exercise. I am grateful for your time, effort, and energy to be sober and alive in your precious life. I wish you a pleasant day.

How can you do it

There is no wrong way to write a gratitude journal, but here are some general ideas to get you started. 

Write up to five things you are grateful for. The physical recording is very important, don't do this exercise in your head. The items you listed can be relatively small ("A delicious sandwich I had for lunch today") or relatively large ("My sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy"). The goal of practice is to remember the good events, experiences, people, or things in life, and then enjoy the beautiful emotions that follow.

Nine  Gratitude Writing Tips

Here are nine important tips when writing:

(1) Be as specific as possible: Being specific is the key to cultivating gratitude. "I am grateful to my colleague for bringing me soup when I was sick on Tuesday" is more effective than "I am grateful to my colleague". 

(2) Choose depth rather than breadth. It is better to describe in detail the specific people or things you are grateful for than to draft a list of many things. 

(3) Have a personality. Focusing on the people you are grateful for is more influential than focusing on the things you are grateful for. 

(4) Try subtraction, not just addition. Think about what your life would be like without certain people or things, instead of just counting all the good things. Be grateful for the negative results you avoid, evade, avoid, or become positive; try not to take this kind of good luck for granted.

(5) Treat good things as "gifts." Treating the good things in life as gifts prevents you from taking them for granted. Try to enjoy and taste the gifts you receive.

(6) Taste the surprise. Try to record unexpected or surprising events, as they tend to generate stronger gratitude. 

(7) Check if it is duplicated. It is good to write about the same people and things, but pay attention to different details. 

(8) Write regularly. Whether you write once every other day or once a week, make sure you have a fixed time to write in your diary, and then stick to this promise. But... 

(9) Don't overdo it. There is evidence that writing occasionally (1-3 times a week) is more beneficial than keeping a diary. That may be because we have adapted to positive events and may soon become numb to them; this is why tasting surprises is useful.

Four ways to train your brain to practice more gratitude 

(1) Take time to pay attention to your surroundings

Mindfulness practice can help you adjust to the present moment. If you are a grateful person, you may pay more attention to other people's gestures. The more frequently you adjust your consciousness, the more likely you are to notice all the beauty around you and feel grateful, which will bring satisfaction and happiness in the future. Our ability to capture the beauty of nature, the goodness of others and the ability to make a living through work require our ability to understand ourselves and the environment. Considering the help in the kitchen, or the color of the sky, we can be grateful just by noticing them.

(2) Be grateful for small things 

We often remember to be grateful for big things, such as graduating from college or getting married, but it may be more difficult to be grateful for the little things we do every day. For example, remind yourself that the diet itself is special, which can be very effective. Your immediate perception of the food in front of you, combining various flavors while eliminating hunger, is a good way to often enjoy gratitude when you eat! Another example is that you are grateful in the morning that you can sleep comfortably at night. By practicing mindfulness and gratitude in this repetitive way, we can gain comfort, satisfaction, and peace.

(3) Share your gratitude to your loved ones 

Most of us take the people we love for granted. Next time you notice the kind deeds of your loved ones, why not simply say "thank you" or give them a hug to express your gratitude? We must express our gratitude and don't let kind deeds go unnoticed. Training yourself to express gratitude to your loved ones can strengthen your relationship with others.

(4) Spread gratitude through your social media platforms

Social media can sometimes feel very negative, but using it to share your gratitude can help create a more positive atmosphere online. For example, share a recent event or an exhilarating moment in a lesson learned from a book you have read, or a photo of a nearby place that you are grateful for. Spreading beauty in a unique and exciting way is that all of us can do our part in this digital age to remind ourselves that we have many ways to be grateful. Let us inspire each other in this way. 

If we understand ourselves, others, and our environment, we can train our minds to practice gratitude more frequently. Let us expand our appreciation. Share your thoughts and remind yourself to be grateful.

Three ways gratitude is good for the brain 

(1) It can help relieve stress and pain. The area related to gratitude is part of the neural network, and it lights up when we socialize and experience happiness. These areas are also closely related to the parts of the brain that control basic emotional regulation (such as heart rate and arousal levels), and are involved in relieving stress and reducing pain. Being grateful and acknowledging the help of others can create a more relaxed body state and allow the subsequent benefits of stress relief to wash over us. (We recently published a scientific article developing these ideas.)

(2) Over time, it can improve our health. They are also closely related to the brain's "mu-opioid" networks, which are activated during close interpersonal contact and pain relief, and may have evolved due to the need for mutual preparation to detect parasites. In other words, our data suggest that because gratitude relies on the brain network associated with social connections and stress relief, this may explain to some extent how feelings of gratitude can be beneficial to health over time.

(3) It can help people suffering from depression. Perhaps even more encouraging is that Indiana University researcher Prathik Kini and his colleagues subsequently conducted a study that examined how gratitude exercises can change the brain function of people with depression. They found evidence that gratitude can cause structural changes in the same parts of the active brain that we found in experiments. This result, which complements our own results, tells a story about how the mental exercise of gratitude changes and reconfigures the brain.

What is the effect of practicing gratitude?

(1) Improve your mental health. Those who wrote thank-you notes reported significantly better mental health 4 and 12 weeks after the end of the writing exercise. Although not conclusive, this finding suggests that practicing gratitude can help train the brain to be more sensitive to future gratitude experiences, which may help improve mental health over time.

(2) It can help you accept changes. When we are satisfied with the status quo of things, it may be difficult to accept when things change, let alone feel grateful for the difference. But when we develop the habit of noticing the good changes it brings, we become more flexible and accepting. Here are four ways to practice gratitude when changes occur.

(3) It can relieve stress. The area related to gratitude is part of the neural network, and it lights up when we socialize and experience happiness. These areas are also closely related to the parts of the brain that control basic emotional regulation (such as heart rate), and are involved in relieving stress and pain. Being grateful and acknowledging the help of others will create a more relaxed body state and allow the subsequent benefits of decompression to wash over us.

People who practice gratitude report: 

• Fewer physical symptoms of illness
• more optimism
•  greater goal achievement
• reduction of anxiety and depression, and other health benefits.

Gratitude also has a positive effect on our brains. 

Practicing gratitude will light up the reward center of the brain. A study found that practicing gratitude by writing a gratitude journal can illuminate the ventral medial prefrontal cortex, a key brain area related to brain reward processing.