Can The Practice of Gratitude Really Increase Your Happiness and Overall Outlook on Life?
What is the practice of Gratitude anyway? Let us break it down for you here. The word gratitude originates from the Latin word gratia– meaning grace, graciousness, or grateful. The practice of gratitude is to be mindful and appreciative of everything good in your life, even the little things.
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity…it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”- Melody Beattie
Gratitude often helps you to connect to something larger than yourself, examples could be community, nature, or a higher power. Gratitude changes your interaction with the world and promotes thoughts and behaviors that support your best life. The practice of gratitude is also proven to improve mental and physical health and resiliency.
“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness-it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude”– Brene Brown
The practice of mindfulness and gratitude effectively increases happiness and your overall outlook on life. Here are a few easy ways you can start practicing gratitude that sure positively influences your life.
- With a positive attitude of gratitude, people will be drawn to you have you will be easy for people to like. Acting with graces inspires others to seek your friendship and deepen relationships.
- Practicing gratitude can have a positive effect on your sleep. Being thankful allows you to sleep longer and deeper, resulting in feeling more rested in your waking hours.
- Practicing gratitude improves your mental well-being by lowering depressive episodes and fewer suicidal ideations. Gratitude is also linked to fewer toxic emotions like resentment and envy.
- It’s proven that having an attitude of gratitude will increase your physical health. Research has linked gratitude to lower blood pressure, improved immunity, and fewer chronic aches and pains.
- With an attitude of gratitude, you are more likely to reach your goals. It’s proven that gratitude enhances your feelings of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, and energy, allowing you to fully focus on your goals.
- People tend to gravitate and be influenced by those that express gratitude, making them natural leaders.
- When gratitude is the focus, there is a greater sense of resiliency, resulting in mental fortitude and increased ability to manage stress, and you feel less stress in general.
- Gratitude decreases the overall feelings of stress in general
- With the practice of gratitude comes higher self-esteem and less social stress.
Cultivating your attitude of gratitude is a process. Here are several things you can do to develop and strengthen your attitude of gratitude.
“Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have, and you will attract more good things”- The Secret
- Express your appreciation and nurture your relationships through either verbal or written “thank you”. Don’t forget to appreciate and thank yourself while you are busy thanking others.
- Gratitude can be given and felt through your thoughts. We are all just energy you see, and we are affected by the positive energy of gratitude. Send those positive thoughts out to the world on a regular basis and watch the ripple effects they cause around you.
- Be mindful of what you are grateful for and create daily entries in a gratitude journal.
- A mindful meditation practice, focusing on nature, your higher power, and your inner wellbeing, helps to ground you with a sense of inner peace.
Start reaping the benefits of your gratitude practice by adjusting your focus to notice all that surrounds you to make your life unique and special.