8 best ways to practice gratitude that help improve quality of your life.

Importance Of Showing Gratitude

As every day I am going deeper and deeper into wellbeing/mindful lifestyle, I have discovered Importance Of Showing Gratitude in your day to day life. It has been only 4 weeks now and I can already see the massive difference. 

I have also started to use my mindful journal daily, in the morning and in the evening. It has a few sections on each page. For morning meditation I write what is the focus of the day, my affirmations, what am I grateful for, what am I excited about today and how I will make a space for gratitude during the day. And believe me, the things that I am focusing on each day are so small, for example: todays gratitude is to be grateful for my fingers so I can type and I can I write. When do we ever focus on our fingers? When do we appreciate that we have hands and fingers? We get used to take everything for granted. 

Although, coronavirus and the whole 2020 is not a pleasant experience, I am so grateful for the lockdown that we had to go into. It gave me the time and the mind set to focus on myself, but what I mean by that is to focus in my mind in first place, then my body. And although I have heard so many times from different sources, how important is to focus on your mind, I actually never paid attention to that. I was sucked in the daily madness that we all were going through at some point. And even though I was meditating, I don’t think I was doing in 100% (and that is just me being honest with myself).

So when the lockdown started, I had a time and the mind set to focus what is actually happening in my head. And it was a mess; thousands thoughts speeding around my head and me trying to accomplished all of them. I said stop to myself, I have paused for a while, I paused my social life (well, during lockdown it was paused anyway, but I mean I even didn’t contact my friends and family online). It was just me and my mind. By taking baby steps, by analysing myself, I have finally figured out what I want from my life, what is my purpose, what will make me be a better person. I have stopped the bullshit running inside my head, I have stopped taking everything for granted and in fact I started to be grateful for everything. I no longer thought that I have deserved to have a good and well paid job, I no longer thought that I have worked hard to buy my house, I shifted my mind into gratitude. I started to appreciate that I actually had a job so I can earn money and I can buys thing. I started to appreciate my boss that hired me and gave me the opportunity to develop myself, to challenge myself, to build the relationships with my co-workers. I started to appreciate that the builders had to get up early in the morning to come on the site and build my house. 

I go to bed each evening with a huge appreciation that I have a bed that is comfortable and warm, that I will have a long relaxing night. I am happy that in the morning when I wake up, I will have another day, that I will breathe the fresh air again, that I will eat breakfast with my daughter and that I can go to work. 

What I have noticed after first few weeks of focusing on Gratitude Benefits In Lockdown that I don’t have any contact with toxic people that I was surrender by before. Have they magically disappeared? NO! It was all me, changing the way I was thinking about others and started to appreciate people. Even when you come across a nasty one, you can still appreciate the lessons that you have learnt from the person. You have learnt how to control your negative emotions; you have learnt how not to behave and how not to treat others. And that is so beautiful. 

Practicing Gratitude Exercises

Did you know that feeling grateful boosts happiness and fosters both physical and psychological health? Even research shows that practicing gratitude Exercises limits the use of words expressing negative emotions. And that is not the end, it is a chain: by stopping any negative emotions coming to you, by stopping using negative words, you are pushing anxiety and depression away; you are working on your mental health. 

Did you know that people who are grateful experience less pain and stress, have robust immune systems, have healthier relationships, and do better academically and professionally? 

See below scientific-based activities for cultivating an attitude of gratitude. They are the simplest things you could possible do:

List Three Good Things 

This is a way to tune into the positive events in your life. Don’t try and think of some fancy cool things, be simple. You can even list a tasty coffee and breakfast that you had in the morning. Or a refreshing walk in the afternoon. Or maybe cuddles on the sofa with your partner. 

Write a Thank You Letter

Write a letter expressing thanks, and deliver it in person. The best way is to deliver it in person and not by post if possible. Write a letter to one of your children or your parents or perhaps you want to send a thank you letter to one of your influencers? Think about it, it will definitely boost your mood and most important it will make the person feel happy and appreciated. 

Take a Relishing Walk

A stroll outside can help build lasting happiness. Try to be mindful during the walk, explore the nature, be grateful for the birds singing, for the leaves under your feet, for the breeze, be grateful even for the rain – it help the plants, veggies to grow, it nourishes the soil so you can seed some tomatoes in the garden. 

Involve your friend and family

Spend some time together, go around the table and allow each of you to list few things that you are grateful for. 

Identify 3 things that you take for granted 

But in fact you are actually very thankful for. It can be your health, your body, house or a car that you have purchased with your own money. Anything that you think you have deserved. A simple example from my life: I way always taking my job and my promotions for granted as I thought it was only me that work hard to get the pay-rise or get better position. Could I be more wrong? No! It was not only me; it was my boss that recognised my hard work, my colleagues that provided the positive feedback, the owner of the company and the director that actually was responsible for running the massive business.

Identify 3 things that you appreciate about yourself

Pick things that are meaningful; your personality, your qualities, your actions. You can appreciate that you are strong and can carry a lot of shopping in one go, or your employability skills, your people skills, that you are a very good manager, or very good cook.

Recognise 3 things that you feel grateful for about your present-right now

It is all about present moment, here-and-now. What can you appreciate about your experience, about the environment, the cosy blanket that you are under at the moment, or the warm socks that you are wearing?

Name 3 people who had a significant and positive experience on your life

Your boss? O yes, even your boss can have a positive impact on you. Think about people that are surrounded around you most of the time or people that you see ones a week – for example your personal trainer that spends hours with you to work on your body, your guitar teacher, family member? The cleaner that comes to your office each day to get rid of the rubbish. 

Trust me, by doing these simple exercises you will increase the sense of gratitude you feel. That sensation of appreciation not only improves your relationships, but it also helps you bring more love into your daily life and it also helps us reconnect.