It’s Thursday morning and you are in a rush to go to work. Meanwhile, when you are cycling to the train station, it starts to rain. You forgot your umbrella and raincoat. When you arrive at the train station, you notice that your train is delayed and it is not clear when the next train will depart to your destination. You want to grab an apple from your bag as you are hungry, but you forgot to bring it. Why does everything go wrong today? You ask yourself. We all experience days like this. Or even worse. When something bad happens in your life and it feels like all the bad things happen all together. How can you stay strong and survive in times like this? One of the strategies you can use is the practice of gratitude.
What is gratitude
Gratitude, what does it mean? According Cambridge Dictionary is gratitude ‘the feeling or quality of being grateful’. It can be about many things. It’s the appreciation of the good things in your life. Most of those things we easily take for granted. Like having a house where we can live, to have daily food, having access to drinking water, an internet connection to stay in touch with family and friends or to be healthy. By practicing with an active mindset of appreciation, we can change our lives. As humans we easily get in the mode of modern life, where we focus on the things that are missing or the things that go wrong.
Benefits for health
And of course, there are always exceptions. The daily small things that go wrong are different from the big problems in life, like losing your health, your job, a dear one who passes away or having no place to live. When you experience small or big things in life that go wrong, there is still always something to be grateful for. To make this active mindset part of your lifestyle, will be beneficial for your health. Some benefits for your health:
- It reduces stress.
- It counteracts the brain’s natural negativity bias.
- It lowers blood pressure.
- It improves the quality of your sleep.
- It supports your immune system by reducing cortisol levels.
Integrating gratitude into your life
It’s always a challenge to change your habits. So take small steps and start with micro habits. This will help you to fit it in your daily life, without making you feel overwhelmed by a big change. You can decide how you want to change your life. If a small step is too big for you, it’s even possible to cut it into even smaller steps. You have to find a way that works for you, as everyone is different. Some examples of how you can integrate gratitude into your daily routine:
- Take a breath of ten seconds between tasks during your day and acknowledge one thing that went well.
- Send a small text to someone you appreciate once in a week. It can be a simple ‘thank you for being my friend’ or ‘I am grateful for your support in my life’ or ‘I love it that you are an inspiration to others’.
- Pair gratitude with an existing habit, like when you brush your teeth or before your meditation in the early morning. By pairing habits, it becomes easier to integrate it into your life.
- Write three things your are grateful for at the end of the day in your journal. There is even a gratitude app you use, like Presently.
- Reflect once in a week about your past week. Think of at least ten things that you were grateful for.
Connecting
Please try to make gratitude part of your life. It is not easy, but if it becomes a daily habit, you will be healthier. As we already live in a crazy world with wars, climate change, phone addictions and AI. Gratitude is part of connecting with yourself and with others. Gratitude is also different than toxic positivity. It doesn’t mean you ignore pain, stress or grief. It is about allowing good things to coexist together with life challenges and difficulties.
To let gratitude be a part of your daily life, you need to train your gratitude muscle. It all begins with small consistent daily practice. What is one thing that you are grateful for now?
Jane Regina Sauer 