What You Should Know About Practising Gratitude

I woke up today with a grateful heart. It’s a nice feeling considering all the unease that exists in the world right now.

What do I attribute my grateful heart to? My five-plus years of practising gratitude DAILY. People have long been saying “every day write down three things that you’re grateful for”. And yes, it’s great to stop, be in the moment, and think about what you’re grateful for in that moment. But today I want to share with you why practising gratitude is more than that – the long-term benefit of practising gratitude.

It was coming up to the end of 2015. I’d been thinking about this so-called “practising gratitude” term that I’d heard people speak about. And I decided 2015 was the year I was going to implement it myself. So I bought myself a gratitude journal in preparation and added it to the list of daily habits I wanted to roll in for 2016.

I decided I would add my gratitude practice to my evening routine and carry it out once I hopped into bed at the end of each day. And I popped it on my bedside table ready to go on January 1.

And so, it started on January 1^st 2016. Every night I started thinking about three things that I was grateful for in the day that had been and writing them in my journal. That’s an important note. It’s not just a matter of having a think about it, it’s a matter of actually writing down three things that you’re grateful for.

It could be the littlest thing, like the clean sheets on your bed. That’s a great thing to be grateful for. How lucky we are! Not everyone has a washing machine, and we get to have beautiful, clean, lovely smelling, fresh sheets. Is there anything better? I can feel it on my skin now as I write. We take it for granted, and it is something that I’m grateful for every single time.

You might be grateful for someone at work offering to make you a cup of coffee or tea. Maybe you’re grateful that you have a dishwasher (I know I am). You might be grateful that you have a job; that you can work from home right now. That your kids are safe. Or you might be grateful for Uber Eats. Or wine! Or your meditation practice… whatever gets you through the day. There’s always something.

The point is, it doesn’t have to be anything massive every time, like a new job, though that is something to be grateful for too! But it’s actually the little things that add up. Those are the things that really bring happiness. The sun shining on your face, seeing the ocean, a hug from your child…

And when you consistently think about, write down, and reflect on the little things that you are grateful for and that make you happy, it helps to remind you to stop and smell the roses. Because if you take in, and notice all these little good things in your life, it is going to make you so much happier. And when you do this long enough, it helps to reframe your thinking.

The sad thing is that if we don’t do this, often our automatic thinking is to focus on what’s going wrong in our lives. The challenging things, the struggles, the things we don’t like…

However, when you start to write down three things every day that you’re grateful for, over time you are going to actually start to look for things that happen throughout the day that you can be grateful about. And when something good happens, you’re going to think to yourself: That’s awesome! I’m going to write about that later in my gratitude journal. And previously, you probably wouldn’t have given that good thing much attention at all.

And over time, you will start feeling grateful throughout the day, not just during the time that you’ve decided to sit down and write in your journal. Practising gratitude will help you draw attention to and focus on what is going right, not wrong.

So, if there’s one thing that I would encourage you to do today, it’s to get a journal or an exercise book and start writing three things you are grateful for every day.

I choose to do mine at night, but you can do it at any time in the day. It’s your choice. But consistency matters. And when you have a bad day, that’s usually when you least feel like writing in your gratitude journal. And you might even have a moment where you feel like there is nothing to be grateful for. But there is there’s always something to be grateful for, no matter how shitty your day. You just have to look for it. And you will find it! And when you do, and you write about it, it will make you feel a bit better. But the real bonus is, as I said, in the long-term and how your thinking will be re-framed.

One of my favourite things to do each year, on New Year’s Eve, is to sit down (preferably on a beach) and read through my gratitude journal – my list of things that that I’ve been grateful for throughout the year. And it makes me feel so good. It also gives me a tool to help me reflect on the year and reminds me of all the amazing things that have happened that year.

And today, my gratitude journal still sits next to me on my bedside table, and it’s my favourite way to finish the day. And I have five full gratitude journals sitting in the drawer underneath, filled with five years of things to be grateful about.

I don’t say this lightly, but incorporating the practice of gratitude will make a huge difference to your life – it truly is a life-changing habit. And it’s so simple to do! Start today.