The Positive Benefits of Practising Gratitude

“Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance.” — Eckhart Tolle

Practising gratitude has seen a surge in popularity over the last few years. It makes sense that being grateful for what we have, rather than concentrating on the negative, is better for our mental health, but it’s not always easy.

Being stuck in a job you hate, arguing with your partner or dealing with loss and grief can make it hard to feel grateful. Finding a glimmer of hope when things feel bleak and not knowing which way to turn can be difficult.

However, research shows that tapping into gratitude can help reduce stress and anxiety, boost our mood and increase positive emotions. It can also make us more resilient when dealing with life’s curveballs.

That doesn’t mean you should try to push away the difficult emotions you’re experiencing. Acknowledge the grief, sit with the loss and feel whatever you need to. This is true for any challenging situation; connect to whatever is going on inside.

Attempting to replace these emotions with positive ones would be toxic positivity, and that’s not what gratitude is about.

Practising gratitude doesn’t mean pushing down negative feelings, sticking our heads in the sand and pretending everything is fine. It means we’re looking for a silver lining among the dark clouds and acknowledging the things we sometimes overlook, take for granted, or don’t pay much attention to.

Practising gratitude means looking for the goodness that already exists in our lives.

How you practise gratitude is personal.

Practising gratitude is personal. It can be as big or as small as you want and will often reflect what we have going on in our lives. You might be grateful for a cup of coffee and some solitude before the rest of the house wakes up.

You could feel thankful for the morning run you squeezed in before work. Or you might feel incredibly grateful that you didn’t dip into your overdraft this month.

Sometimes we’ll be grateful for the big things we take for granted: a safe place to sleep, clean running water and a hot shower, electricity, our health, money to pay our bills, or food on our table. Other times we might be grateful for our relationships, friends, family, or neighbours who don’t hold all-night raves.

Some days we might be grateful for the small things, like our favourite meal, ten minutes to meditate, a smile from a stranger, or time to do some gardening.

But these moments aren’t small at all. Often, the small things are the big things. They are the things that make a difference. They nourish us, help keep us balanced and bring us pockets of joy throughout our day. We feel truly grateful when we get to experience them.

Robert Emmons, the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, believes there are two components to the practice. 1) “recognising that one has obtained a positive outcome” and 2) “recognising that there is an external source for this positive outcome”. So, we can be grateful for situations that have turned out well, and we can be grateful for others who have positively impacted our lives in some way.

The rabbit hole of gratitude is deep. If you want to get to grips with Emmon’s research, grab a brew and head to your favourite search engine.

My gratitude journey.

My own journey with gratitude hasn’t been straightforward. I tried and failed many times to keep a journal. I struggled to stay consistent, each time giving up. But after reading the research and learning about the positive benefits practising gratitude could have, I wanted to experience it for myself.

The last few years have been particularly challenging for me. I lost my dad and have watched my mother-in-law deteriorate after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My life has changed significantly.

Along with navigating grief, I have a whole new set of responsibilities, and some days are still incredibly hard. So, with everything I’ve had going on, tapping into gratitude seemed logical.

As of today, I’ve missed two days out of the last 230. It started as an experiment, wanting to see if I could stay consistent for 30 days and once I had, I continued. I was well and truly on the gratitude bandwagon and over 200-days later, I’m still going.

The first few days were easy, novel even. I love starting new things (I’m just not so good at seeing them through) so, I was in my element. After the first week, my motivation started to waiver, but by day 15, I was like a freight train. Not only was I halfway through my experiment, but I also looked forward to reflecting on my day.

Tapping into gratitude each evening makes me recognise the glimmers I might have overlooked. Some days, I write several things I am grateful for, while others, I write just one.

Every day is different. Sometimes, the fact I own my home and have a safe place to sleep, really hits me. Other times, I’m incredibly grateful for my morning run or that my husband cooked me my favourite meal.

Practising gratitude doesn’t mean I’m trying to ignore life’s challenges. It means I’m acknowledging the goodness that runs alongside them.

Speak your gratitude out loud or write it down.

There isn’t a right or wrong way to practise gratitude. It’s whatever feels right to you. Some people write down what they’re grateful for, while others speak it out loud or silently think about it.

Keeping a gratitude journal is one of the most popular ways to record the nuggets of gold from your day. When you’re having a bad day, week, or month, you can also look back through your lists as a reminder that there’s always something to be grateful for.

Some people type their lists into their phones, others use gratitude apps, and some people record a voice note for themselves. Pick whatever works best for you. I’m a good, old-fashioned pen-and-paper kinda girl.

You can practise gratitude at whatever time of day feels right for you. My favourite time to do this is in the evening when I get into bed. But that’s my personal preference. Some people do it as soon as they wake up, silently repeating a list in their heads of the things they are grateful for.

Research suggests finding three to five things, but on a bad day, if things feel hard, finding one is a huge win.

Tips.

You will read many different things about only using a journal, not typing on your phone, listing 50 things before getting out of bed, or standing on one leg and doing a pirouette like a ballerina. But if none of those things resonate with you — you won’t do it.

The point of practising gratitude is to feel grateful for what you have and to reap the positive health benefits like reduced anxiety and increased resilience. If it starts to feel like a chore — don’t do it. If you feel like you must do it and you’re not gaining anything from it, it’s time to drop it.

Just like any self-care practice, it shouldn’t feel like hard work. The aim is to recognise the goodness in your life, especially when things are challenging, rather than adding another item to your to-do list.

When life feels tough or we’re having a bad day, taking a moment to be grateful teaches us that even in the dark, there are glimpses of light and hope to be found.