Practicing gratitude is an incredibly important aspect of self-care that can positively change the way you experience the world and your overall quality of life.
When was the last time you took a moment to reflect on the people, experiences, and items in your life that you’re grateful for?
It sounds so simple, and yet many of us struggle with intentionally practicing gratitude.
Gratitude has a large range of benefits including improving social, physical, and mental well-being. It can change your mindset and help you live a more positive, fulfilling life.
We often think about how the movement we enjoy is good for our health, but we forget that we should also be exercising our minds. Similar to activity - it’s important not to overdo it, and to find the right amount and type of gratitude activities that work for you!
Keep reading to learn what gratitude is, why it is important, and 11 simple ways to add gratitude to your self-care toolbox.
If you haven’t already read our article on joyful movement, we encourage you to read it next!
Are you interested in learning more about self-care strategies for overcoming eating disorders? We have just the course for you! Recovery in Bloom is our targeted self-care system to support your eating disorder recovery and improve your quality of life.
What is Gratitude?
Gratitude is an emotion that is similar to appreciation. It is the positive feeling of being thankful for something, recognizing it, and acknowledging it.
This positive feeling can lead to experiences of happiness, excitement, love, and peace.
Not only is gratitude a short-term emotional response, but it is also an emotional training tool. You can enhance and improve your gratitude through mindfulness and practice.
Once you begin to practice gratitude regularly you will begin to notice the long-term benefits such as increased happiness and peace of mind.
After a long day, do you ever have negative thoughts or feelings? Do you often focus on what’s going wrong, instead of what’s going right?
While this is totally normal, it can actually be decreased through practicing gratitude! Next, we will be going over practical tips and activities to incorporate gratitude throughout your busiest days of life.
Why is Gratitude Important?
Gratitude is very important because it has been found to play a foundational role in overall well-being. This includes physical, mental, and psychological well-being. The positive effects really are endless!
Here are just some of the benefits of practicing gratitude:
- Increases happiness and optimism
- Increases self-esteem
- Protects against stress
- Helps build and maintain relationships by decreasing antisocial behavior
- More kindness and empathy
- Improved ability to deal with hardships
- Supports resilience
- Increases hope
- Decreases depressive symptoms
- Can decrease symptoms of illness
- Improves sleep
How to Incorporate Gratitude into Your Self-Care Toolbox
A self-care toolbox is a set of tools you have already determined that can be used in times when you feel you’re struggling or stuck in a rut. It can be as simple as having a list of activities that you know work for you, or it can be a physical box filled with happy items and inspiration.
Here are examples you could add to your list:
- Joyful movement
- Go for a walk
- Stretch
- Take a hot shower or bath, or go to the spa
- Spend time in nature
- Read a book
- Explore your creative side by drawing, gardening, or painting
- Deep breathing exercises
- Relaxing music
Adding gratitude to your self-care toolbox is important because it can increase hope, happiness, and feelings of peace.
Some of these activities take less than 5 minutes, and when you are feeling down or overwhelmed, having the power of completing a simple gratitude exercise can make the world of a difference. Refer to the list below for simple ways you can add gratitude specifically to your toolbox!
When you have some extra time, maybe on the weekends, try doing a longer activity such as writing a letter to yourself or someone you love or completing a longer meditation.
It’s important to remember that you don’t have to wait until you are stressed to use these tools, they can be preventative too.
Try to incorporate a couple of your favorite activities each week and you may see your mood start to uplift. It really can have a life-changing impact.
Self-care isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. With our Recovery in Bloom course, we empower you to implement self-care strategies for overcoming eating disorders. Our course is an eating disorder recovery program that provides you with the self-care toolkit you need for recovery.
11 Ways to Practice Gratitude
Clearly, practicing gratitude has the power to have a major positive influence on your life. So, how do we realistically implement activities of gratitude in our daily lives?
Here are 11 practical ways to practice gratitude:
- Say things you're grateful for out loud: When you are waking up in the morning, instead of checking your phone right away, try saying three things you are grateful for. Practicing this simple activity right away in the morning can set the tone for a positive day.
- Journal: It has been shown that journaling has one of the largest impacts on well-being. At the end of the day, try writing down 5 things you are grateful for. You can also use the Internet to look up gratitude journaling prompts to get you started!
- Share with friends: Talk to your friends about things you are thankful for, or, tell them how thankful you are to have them in your life. Bonding with others over things you are grateful for can be a powerful tool to build lasting friendships.
- Meditate: A great way to get started with meditation is to use guided meditation apps like Insight TImer or Headspace. You can do a deep breathing exercise or follow along with a gratitude meditation to reflect on all you are thankful for and clear your mind. This can be a great way to take a break during a busy day.
- Find inspiration: Sometimes, something as simple as looking at quotes online can get you feeling inspired and thankful. Here is an example of an uplifting quote:
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.” - Melody Beattie
- Read gratitude books: If you love reading, try out a self-improvement book focused on gratitude. These can be great tools to change your mindset. If you typically don’t love reading, maybe start with just 10 pages a day and see what happens!
- Gratitude jar: If you are someone who enjoys arts and crafts, this tip is for you! First, you will need to find a jar. Next, you can decorate it however you’d like. You can use glitter, ribbons, paint markers, or anything you can think of. Let your imagination take over! Now, at the end of each day, you can write down one thing you are thankful for on a small slip of paper. Fold up the paper and add it to the jar. Watch it fill up with all the amazing things in your life! If you are ever feeling down, take a few slips of paper out and read them.
- Gratitude prompts: After some time, you may get stuck at the surface level with things you are grateful for. Try using prompts to think outside the box and then practice writing these down or saying them out loud. Speaking them out loud is similar to saying positive affirmations. Here are a few examples:
I’m grateful for these three things I see…
I’m grateful for these three things in my home…
I’m grateful for these three friends…
I’m grateful for these three things in nature…
I’m grateful for one thing that happened to me today…
I’m grateful for something I’m excited for…
- Gratitude walk or joyful movement: Spend some time thanking your body for everything it can do for you. Go for a walk or move in a way that feels good to you and thank your body for always supporting you. Joyful movement already has health benefits, but adding gratitude on top of it can be a great way to enhance your mood.
- Gratitude letter: Take some time out of your day to handwrite a letter to someone special in your life who you’re extra thankful for. If you’re able, hand deliver the letter in person. This will be sure to mean so much to them, and it will make you feel great too! Also, if you don’t feel like giving it to anyone, you can simply write the letter as if you were and then keep it for yourself.
- Picture Board of Gratitude: Have you ever heard of a vision board before? A picture board of gratitude is a similar concept! Take pictures and look through your camera roll to find all of the things you are grateful for in your life. Print out the pictures and glue them to a poster board or hang them up in your room. This is an excellent way to have a visual reminder of everything you love! Plus, it is super fun to make.
The Takeaway
Practicing gratitude daily, weekly, or even monthly can lead to increased happiness, self-esteem, and decreased stress.
We hope this post sparked inspiration and that you are feeling excited about getting started! One of the most important parts of practicing gratitude is finding what works for you. Have fun experimenting, there is no wrong or right way.
We also want to note that it is just as important to find the right amount that works for you. For example, if you try journaling once a day but it starts to feel like a chore, scale back to once a week.
There are no rules, and there is no failure! Just keep trying and eventually, you will find what works for you.
Are you ready to get your life back and love the life that you choose? Let Bloom help you! Head over to our services page to learn more about our current nutrition coaching and therapy offers.
We also are launching our self-care course that is perfect for you if you are looking to learn how to support yourself through times of recovery. Join the waitlist to be the first to find out when this valuable course launches! You are more than worthy of the self-care and self-love that you deserve.
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