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We’re dependent upon and affected by other people, things, and events. Some help us directly and some indirectly by teaching us valuable lessons. We should be grateful to them. Research tells us that gratitude makes us happy and healthy. It also helps bond with other people and spread happiness and a positive atmosphere. Here’s how you can be grateful in your daily life in this re-published post. ~ Ed.
How can you be grateful every day? Do you find it easy to be grateful or express your gratitude? I think being grateful is an attitude that we need to cultivate daily.
You can learn to be grateful for just about anything that comes your way. Begin with the small things first, or things that happen every day that you appreciate.
Such things to be grateful for can be like waking up to a new day. Or being grateful for your health, kids, home, parents, job, phone, nature, birds, comfy bed, laughter, and having each other.
Being grateful helps us grow, evolve, and feel better. Even research reveals that gratitude improves well-being, mental and physical health, and helps you get on in life.
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” ~ Marcel Proust
Why Do We Need to Be Grateful and Give Thanks
We give thanks to acknowledging someone else’s goodness and express our gratefulness.
We thank others when they do good things for us, though even the bad ones teach us lessons in return.
Hey! It’s Thanksgiving! Just as the word indicates – “Thanksgiving” has two words, ‘thanks’ and ‘giving’, and that’s what we need to do – thank others and learn to be giving.
Thanksgiving is a time when family and friends gather together to enjoy. They share a meal and take time to reflect on the things they are thankful for.
I love the spirit in which it is celebrated, and I wish all my friends who celebrate it – a very Happy Thanksgiving.
I personally like every day to be full of gratitude and giving. Not to mention that you need to instill gratitude in your kid’s too!
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.” ~ William Arthur Ward
10 Ways to Be Grateful Daily
You too can cultivate the habit of gratitude every day by learning to be grateful and make it a part of your daily life and routine.
Try the following ways:
Keep a Gratitude Journal
I know many of my friends keep a gratitude journal, though some write it daily, while others maintain a weekly one.
Just write down what you feel thankful for. Also, mention the benefits that come from writing things you appreciate. It’s kind of a visual reminder that you can reflect back on often.
Some of you might prefer writing a gratitude letter to a person. It might be to someone who has had a positive influence in your life, but whom you’ve not thanked properly.
Have a Grateful Attitude
There are times when you come across problems or issues in your life. You need to re-frame them by keeping an affirmative attitude. Just remain grateful and positive even for such times.
Take such problems as challenges and opportunities to make you better. Don’t fear your failures; instead, be grateful that you are given the chance to make them stepping stones to your success.
Remain Positive
Sometime you might tend to compare your life to others and feel you aren’t lucky or you don’t have the LUCK factor in your life. You need to make positive comparisons instead.
Think about what you have in your life that others don’t have, and be grateful for those things.
Appreciate Everything
You should be grateful to each and everything in life. It’s not that you’ve to be grateful for only the big things in life. In fact, there’s nothing too small to be grateful for.
Develop a habit to appreciate anything and everything that you’ve in life. Don’t compare but just value them. Take nothing for granted.
Set Reminders
Initially, you would need small reminders to start cultivating an attitude of gratitude. Things like alarms in your phone, post-its on your mirror, or family and friends can remind you what is it that you want to be thankful for.
Learn to be grateful daily and make it part of your life. You need to integrate it into your daily schedule till it becomes natural or second nature to you.
Express yourself
If you’re grateful, then let the people know about it, if you can. By expressing yourself you not only increase your level of happiness but also make the person at the receiving end happy.
Make it a habit to say thank you, as many times and as often as you can. Care for your loved ones whom you’re grateful to and spend time with them. Appreciate and praise whomever you’re thankful for and you’ll feel the happiness within and all around you.
Volunteer
A way to express gratitude is to volunteer and give back to the community. Volunteering is known to increase the well-being quotient within us. It has been researched that those people who frequently take part in volunteering activities are at the least risk of depression in life.
You help yourself by helping others. But that’s not why you’re helping; it’s just because you feel like and you get happiness as a return gift!
Be Humble
Humility and modesty make you more compassionate. Needless to say, if you’re humble you’ll be more grateful. Live with an attitude of gratitude towards all big and small things or people in life.
Life is filled with seemingly ordinary and small moments that if you reflect upon help you immensely directly or indirectly. Humbly accept and appreciate them and feel grateful for them in your life.
Practice Gratitude Before Meals
The meal that you eat is facilitated by many people and animals. If it weren’t for them, you would be left hungry and weak. It’s a good thing to thank them all the first thing when you sit down for a meal.
You can even make the mealtime as an opportunity for all to express their gratitude to whatever and whomever they feel grateful to.
Reflect On Your Day at Bedtime
Last but not least, recall the events of the day just before going to sleep and be thankful to all who helped you. Be thankful to all the good and bad events for helping you learn valuable lessons.
Researches prove that if you come to a truce and be peace with yourself and others before sleeping, you sleep with a light heart and that would help in falling asleep and have a sound sleep.
Make Gratefulness a Part of Yourself
Besides these, just learn to relax and make your life easy. That’s because you cannot be grateful when you are angry, anxious, or frustrated.
Take each day as it comes by living in the moment, without going back to your past or thinking about the future.
Be grateful for such life’s moments, and learn to treasure and value them because such moments will never return.
Value your relationships, and bring in more of affection, laughter, and joy into your daily lives. These are the things to be grateful for every single day.
“Let us rise up and be thankful; for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.” ~ Buddha
What Am I Grateful For
Ah…my list is quite endless though I will try to keep it short. When you want to be grateful, you can – for anything, whether it’s big or small, good or bad.
I am grateful to the Almighty for everything. I need to express my gratitude to my family and friends who have always been supportive and there for me – all the time.
Most of all for being healthy, having a roof over my head, and being financially stable. Besides, I remain grateful for having food to eat and to be able to help others.
I am also grateful to everyone I’ve come across because I’ve learned more about life and being a better person myself. And it’s often the rough or tough ones that teach you the best – isn’t it?
We tend to be grateful for things that make us feel good, but we need to also learn to be grateful for those that don’t.
“There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.” ~ Author Unknown
So, I am also grateful for:
- Pain – because that has taught me to love life more.
- People or things that hurt me – because then I am able to learn more about patience, tolerance, and compassion.
- All the obstacles that come my way – because they are opportunities for me to get better.
- People who make me angry – because that gives me a chance to grow. I learn to accept others and myself better. It reminds me to find peace within myself. It also reminds me that I am the only one who can put out that anger, and I learn more about forgiving.
- Tears – for they bring out my emotions. And when that part of me is touched, I evolve into a better person.
Being grateful every day isn’t tough, but it requires effort on your part. If you learn to look at what you have in your life, instead of what you don’t, you will learn to be grateful and not complain.
“Be thankful for what you have and you will end up having more. But if you concentrate on what you don’t have, you’ll never, ever have enough.” ~ Oprah Winfrey
Over to you –
What are you grateful for? How do you express your gratitude? What suggestions would you give to be grateful every day? Share in the comments below.