Thanksgiving: How to Practice Gratitude Everyday

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“What you focus on expands, and when you focus on the goodness in your life, you create more of it. Opportunities, relationships, even money flowed my way when I learned to be grateful no matter what happened in my life.”
—Oprah Winfrey

Why Is It Important To Practice Gratitude?

Do you know what is better than learning something new every day? It is the intentional practice of being thankful for the good things in one’s life. Practicing gratitude in a world that is overly saturated with wails of pain, and agony can be quite difficult. However, despite the challenges we see everyday, there is a need to be intentional about the possibilities of everything positive in one’s life.

Sometimes, life may throw some tough strings at us, or sometimes we may have gone through a tremendous amount of sadness, pain, and loss, yet the ability to maintain and practice gratitude even amid uncertainty and fear, and hopelessness is what defines us as grateful people.

Today, in this article on thanksgiving and gratitude, imagine if you were asked to write down five major and minor things for which you were eternally grateful.

Practicing Gratitude: What Would Your Thanksgiving List Contain?

Gratitude for life? Gratitude for family, or gratitude for health and food? Or no gratitude at all?

You’d be genuinely surprised to see that the practice of expressing gratitude about one’s life comes with a lot of inbound joy that cannot be expressed any other way. Gratitude teaches you to be more appreciative of life as it comes, and individuals who practice gratitude, in general, tend to display increased well-being and positive emotions.

If you wish to feel happier, better determined, active and more cheerful, and more willing to help others, then you must learn to incorporate the art of practicing gratitude

We often fail to realize that the art of gratitude should be a habit that requires no special occasions to commemorate. When we practice the habit of gratitude, we genuinely become happy as we become more aware of the good things that happen around and within us every day.

It is also important to note that if you’re going through a difficult time, reminding yourself that gratitude isn’t just about counting your blessings would help simplify the idea of being thankful. Overcoming hurdles can make you even stronger and assist in demonstrating highlighting the positive aspects of your life.

You must remember that Gratitude can assist you in recognizing the positive aspects of your life, but this does not imply that you should ignore the negative aspects. You can also value the lessons you learned from adversity or the individuals who assisted you in conquering it.

Practicing gratitude for the wonderful things in life may be a fulfilling experience. Gratitude is known to improve people’s happiness and sense of well-being, as well as their overall health.

Here are some great tips to help you practice gratitude and some of the easiest things to be grateful for are:

Gratitude for food (imagine if you couldn’t eat?!)
Gratitude for friendships (now picture yourself alone in this world)
Gratitude for life (I mean, would any other thing even make sense if this one was taken away?)
Gratitude for families ( we don’t often get to choose our families, but they’re always there for us, regardless)
Gratitude for health.
Gratitude for past and future opportunities
Gratitude for loved ones
Gratitude for nature
Gratitude for your pets

Gratitude should be practiced not only on Thankgiving day but daily and People who practice thankfulness are considered to be healthier, happier, and more resilient than those who do not. Being thankful might also help you gain more trust in your life. Expressing your gratitude will help you get your day off to a good start. It will also aid in the improvement of your mood and the reduction of bad feelings.

Without further ado, here are a few tips below to help you practice gratitude effectively.

1. Try Journaling

Many people want to practice gratitude but unfortunately, they don’t know how to go about it. I know you’re probably saying to yourself

“Does this thing called journalling even work? Because I’m getting tired of seeing it everywhere”.

Well, the answer is: Yes, it does. Journalling is one of the key ways to practice genuine and intentional gratitude. It helps you sort through your thought processes. Keeping a physical record of reasons for which you feel grateful is indeed pivotal. You know what’s super cool about journaling?

There’s no wrong way to practice gratitude when you’re committed to getting down into it. Surprisingly you’d be astonished to see that listing out even the relatively small things like the food you had to eat for breakfast would help you be more grateful.

A simple hack to practicing gratitude through journaling is dependent on two major factors: why you want to be grateful, and how you want to stay grateful. Making your journal’s details as explicit as possible is pivotal. For instance, rather than writing “I am thankful for my colleagues at work”, you could be more specific and write ” I am grateful for Bolu and Tola, who helped me out of trouble with the boss today at work”. Another approach to journaling is trying to get personal as you can with everything as you would when having a real-life conversation. Journaling helps you kick off your day on positive vibes, and keeps you energized like you can take over the world because you feel like your blessings are more than your problems, and the good around is enough to be grateful.

2. Make A List Of Your Optimistic Thoughts

Keeping a gratitude notepad can aid you in keeping track of and referring back to the positive aspects of your life. To help you achieve even more on the task, sit down and write down your good ideas. When you put pen to paper, you have no choice but to think about the words you’re writing without being distracted by other, unappreciative ideas.

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3. Be Grateful For The Tiniest Things

Gratitude does not only have to be reserved for the “important” aspects of life. Gratitude begins with appreciating everything wonderful in life and realizing that there is nothing too tiny to be grateful for.

It’s all too easy to get caught up in the fast lane and lose sight of what you already have. A well-lived life is marked by gratitude and thanksgiving

4. Tell People Around You How They Make You Feel

It is extremely important to acknowledge the place of other individuals and people in your life. Sharing your gratitude with others and expressing the place of people in your heart can help you strengthen your relationship with individuals around you. Let the people around you know that you love, value, and thank them, remind them how they played a pivotal role in a particular phase or downtime of your life, let them know you value them!

5. Appreciate Yourself

Being grateful for yourself, whatever you have, and the individuals in your circle is what self-gratitude entails. You may change your mindset to be more positive and beneficial if you make this a habit. Be glad that there are people, activities, commodities, life, well-being, or even you! This is what gratitude is all about. This could incorporate components of mindfulness, which is a crucial part of self-care. To truly appreciate yourself, you can start with some of the following ideas;

Purchase flowers for yourself, look through your photo and memory albums to see how much you’ve changed, it is sure to guarantee you a good laugh
Get yourself a unique gift, take a break from work and have a day to yourself.
Make an appointment for a pedicure or manicure
In front of a mirror, thank yourself with a high smile; garner a genuine desire to meditate over your journey
Make a list of things you’re grateful for, and write about them
Keep a grateful jar and pull out one item when you’re feeling down
Take a walk and be aware of the things to be grateful for all around you
Meditate; research thanksgiving and gratitude content on social media; keep your focus on the now
Consider two positive thoughts to counter every one negative thought
Make a list of your positive characteristics
Download Gratitude and positivity quotes on your phone and make a genuine effort to see that they should be displayed throughout your home.

6. Share Gratitude Notes With People You’re Grateful For

According to research, those who have a thankful mindset sleep better, have fewer indicators of sadness and make better financial decisions than those who don’t. Telling someone how grateful you are for their existence in your life is a terrific way to express your gratitude.

Try immediately calling someone you’re grateful for and telling them how much they mean to you. Allowing someone to know how special they are can make you both feel good and allow you to express your gratitude. You can try calling someone, writing a letter, or meeting with them in person.

Try bringing up a positive deed they’ve done for you and how it has benefited your life. You could argue, “I appreciate your support at that difficult period. It gave me the strength to keep going and made me feel supported. Thank you very much.”

7. Try Saying A Gratitude Prayer

Offering simple appreciation prayers can be an excellent approach to cultivating gratitude if you follow a particular faith or religious system. Praying and giving thanks can help you communicate how much the good things in your life mean to you, as well as help you maintain a happy and thankful attitude in life.