3 reasons to cultivate gratitude in your daily life (and how)
Gratitude is a powerful tool for feeling happy, calm and taking care of your mental and emotional
health. I discover the main principles of this aspect of positive thinking, 3 reasons why this practice
could transform my daily life, and 5 concrete ideas to get started!
What is gratitude?
Cultivating gratitude means feeling grateful for the small and big things that happen in your life and,
above all, knowing how to express it. Expressing gratitude strengthens my relationships with those
around me, whether they are close or not. I can also give thanks to nature and luck, or rejoice in
achieving something satisfying.
This altruistic approach helps to see the world in a decidedly optimistic light: before we can feel
grateful or thank someone, we have to be able to see the best aspect of each situation. In this way,
gratitude is a very effective tool for boosting morale in all circumstances, even in the face of
adversity. It is also a way of refocusing on what we have rather than on what we lack.
Developing my ability to express gratitude will have repercussions in my life that I probably don’t
even know about yet!
3 good reasons to express my gratitude as often as possible
There are several good reasons to express gratitude more often. Here are three:
- It’s good for my health: a study has linked the practice of positive thinking (which includes
keeping a gratitude journal) to improved health in heart patients. Conversely, negative
emotions increase stress levels and cardiovascular risks in the long term. By saying thank you
more often, I protect my heart! - It strengthens my social relationships: several studies have shown that expressing gratitude
brings benefits to both the thanker and the receiver. The positive results on the quality of the
relationship can be measured over several months. - It improves well-being at work: the observation of companies that have encouraged
gratitude shows that employees are more satisfied in general and, even better, that
gratitude is communicative! A person who feels supported tends to be more benevolent
towards his or her colleagues.
5 ideas to get started, see the world at its best and say “thank you” without keeping count!
To protect my health and improve my well-being (and that of my loved ones), I cultivate my ability to
express gratitude through simple practices:
● I keep a gratitude journal in which I write what I’m grateful for every night, recalling all the
positive things of the day.
● I spend 3 minutes a day practising seeing the world with fresh eyes as if I were looking at my
own life from the outside through an optimistic lens. I take note of the things I don’t usually
notice that make my life easier, the things I find beautiful and that make me smile.
● I deepen my approach by recounting all the positive things that have happened in my life
that have made me the person I am now.
● I set up a gratitude jar where each member of the family can leave a thoughtful note. Seeing
the jar fill up has a positive effect on morale, and on bad days, we can open it to remind
ourselves that our lives are made up of amazing little moments!
● I simply say thank you more often to everyone I interact with. To my partner for the snack
they put in my lunchbox this morning, to my children who speak softly because “parents
work”, to my colleague who put coloured post-its on my file to make my meeting a success,
to the postman…, to all those who, like me, quietly do their best to make the world a better
place!
On that note, thank you for following us, for reading our work and for being here with us, on the blog
and social networks!
For more tips and information around your workouts and healthy goal – Visit our other articles
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26048390/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23731434/
https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167219842868
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21401225/
https://file.scirp.org/pdf/PSYCH_2012123116292186.pdf
