Learn how to adopt an attitude of gratitude by rewiring your brain to see the good in your life before the bad.
Let me get this out in the open- I do not consider myself an optimist.
I don’t walk through life assuming that things will work out fine. I don’t believe that manifesting goodness solves all of my problems. And I do believe that there are days when the chemicals in our bodies just aren’t going to mix right and we’re going to feel mentally unwell.
However, the people who know me would still consider me a happy person.
I believe that it’s possible to remain aware of the difficulties of life without sacrificing happiness.
In fact, I think happiness requires awareness of both the good and the bad things in life.
The thing that I believe makes all the difference choosing to adopt an attitude of gratitude.
Developing an attitude of gratefulness helps me feel happy with each day, no matter what difficulties it brings. Granted, there are still going to be days when life is rough. But when you are able to appreciate some of the smaller parts of that day, even the tougher days get a little easier.
Today I want to share with you all of the ways that you can start to adopt an attitude of gratitude in your own life so that you can live a happier, more fulfilling life in the future.
First, let’s look at the science of gratitude
As crazy as it sounds, you can actually train your brain to think differently when you practice gratitude daily.
With changes in your daily routine, you can teach your brain to regulate the sympathetic nervous system (that is in charge of your anxiety responses).
With practice, you can rewire your brain to filter out any negative obsessions and instead focus on the positive thoughts more consistently.
So before you go thinking that gratitude just isn’t made for you, keep this empowering thought in mind.
Gratitude isn’t something anyone is born with- it is a skill that needs to be developed through practice and intention.
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What is an attitude of gratitude?
You don’t need to be an optimist to have an attitude of gratitude. A grateful heart doesn’t require a perfect life or ignorance of the things going on around you.
To adopt an attitude of gratitude, all you need is practice.
You need to develop the skill of noticing small things every day that you can be thankful you have.
And trust me, it doesn’t take much. If you have one person to love, a sink with running water, and a bed to sleep in, you already have so much to be thankful for.
No unique traits are required in order to adopt an attitude of gratitude. This skill is available to anyone who is willing to put in the work.
Related Post: How to be Happier Naturally and Boost Your Mood
Why is gratitude the best attitude? What are the benefits?
As I said before, practicing gratefulness actually rewires your brain to think more positively on a daily basis. This means that developing a grateful attitude will in turn actually make you feel happier more often.
Here are some other amazing benefits of fostering an attitude of gratitude:
- You will experience less anxiety and depression
- Expressing gratitude regulates dopamine, helping you feel less physical pain
- You will be more likely to sleep better
- Your relationships will be improved
- Gratitude increases self-esteem and reduces social comparison
Basically, adopting an attitude of gratitude will improve your mental health, your physical health, and your social life.
What other reasons do you need to before you decide to try it for yourself?
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How to adopt an attitude of gratitude in your life
Mix and match some of these ideas to develop more gratefulness in your own life today!
1. Create a daily gratitude practice
Gratitude is a skill.
This means that you have to make an effort to practice it regularly in order to reap the benefits.
By creating a routine of gratitude that you do daily, you will be able to consistently grow that skill until it feels like second nature to you!
Here are some daily practices you can try for yourself:
Make an A-B-C list of gratitude
Every day, go through the alphabet and think of something specific that you are grateful for that starts with that letter.
Try to think of different things every day so that you have to get really creative thinking about what you have to be thankful for.
For example, you might say you are thankful for your Apartment that keeps you protected from the cold, then your Bookshelf full of the books you love, then the Chair in your office space that keeps you comfortable all day. Keep up with the list until you get to the end of the alphabet.
You can make this a mental practice or you can write them down every day.
Do a gratitude journal (but don’t just think of three things)
I’ve seen this recommended often to people but, I’ll be honest, I think it’s incredibly ineffective if you only think of three to five things in the morning and at night.
Anyone can think of 3 things to be grateful for. I mean, if you have food, good health, and a bed to sleep in, you could just continue to recycle those forever.
I don’t believe that it’s actually encouraging you to develop the mindset of gratitude.
Instead, think of 20-25 items in the morning and at night that you were grateful for. When you write it down, start by writing the phrase, “Today I am grateful because…”
For example, you could write, “Today I am grateful because I have fresh vegetables that I can easily buy at the grocery store.”
They can be big things or small things. The most important part of this practice is that you think of 20-25 things every time.
You will find that it really challenges you to think more deeply about the good things you have in your life.
Write physical thank you notes
I had a friend who really took this activity to heart, and let me tell you, I have never met someone more in love with life than this woman!
She made it a regular practice to thank people for the ways that they helped her or changed her life and ended every note with #keepbeingawesome.
Want to read her story? There’s a news article about her on the Global News Website.
You don’t necessarily have to physically hand your notes to people but it is definitely a good practice to physically write out thank you notes, as it forces you to really meditate on that grateful thought instead of making it a passing notion.
Do gratitude meditations
Meditation can be approached in many different ways and one of those ways can be to take time to think mindfully about all of the things that you are thankful for.
Instead of emptying your mind the way you would with traditional meditation, you aim to fill your mind with all of the things you are grateful for.
This type of meditation doesn’t need to be done in a quiet space. You can practice gratitude meditation at any moment of your day.
2. Establish moments in your routine that remind you to be grateful
Sometimes the reason that we don’t feel gratitude is simply that we forget to be grateful. Here are some ways that you can set consistent reminders to encourage you to be grateful regularly.
Eat mindfully
I had a friend who, in addition to praying, would try to envision every bit of effort that was required in order to get the food in front of him on the table.
It consistently led him down a path of gratitude as he considered the hard work that was required of so many people.
For example, a simple egg could bring thankfulness for the healthy chicken that laid the egg, the hardworking farmer who collected the egg, the transport worker who delivered the egg to a grocery store, the grocery store for selling the egg, and the car that got you to the grocery store so that you could buy the egg.
And that’s just one egg- imagine the hoard of things you could be grateful for if you did this with an entire plate of food!
There is a fun phrase in Chinese that translates, “Every grain of rice is a drop of sweat from a farmer’s brow”. It is another good thing to remember when eating if you want to cultivate thankfulness.
Related Post: How to Practice Mindful Eating and Actually Enjoy Your Food
Set reminders on your phone
Sometimes when you’re new to a habit you’re trying to build, it helps to get regular reminders. When I was first trying to build the habit of drinking enough water, I had my whole family remind me throughout the day.
Set a reminder on your phone to encourage you to return to an attitude of gratitude throughout the day and soon it will become second nature.
Set visual reminders
Just as you can set reminders on your phone, visual reminders, gratitude quote art and routine cues can be another great way to encourage a practice of gratitude on a regular basis.
All you need to do is put a post-it note close to a place that you return to often that reminds you to be grateful.
Here are some simple places to set visual reminders to be grateful:
- On your bathroom mirror
- Above the kitchen sink
- Beside your bed
- On your front door
- On/near your computer
- Put up a vision board of all the things you’re grateful for somewhere in your house
3. Use the statement “I have enough”
This phrase has been such a game-changer for me.
Whenever you find yourself comparing your life or wishing things were different, take a moment to recognize that you have enough right now.
That doesn’t mean that you can never have dreams or aspirations but recognizing that you have enough at this moment can help bring you peace and satisfaction without actually doing anything more.
So next time you find yourself spiralling into a whirlwind of dissatisfaction or jealousy, think to yourself, “I have enough” and try to explain to yourself why you believe that’s true.
Related Post: How to Find Satisfaction in Every Season of Life
4. Practice expressing your gratitude
Much like the process of writing thank-you notes, expressing your gratitude to others verbally can be a helpful way to rewire your brain for more positivity.
There are lots of opportunities to thank people for what they do for you.
Plus, it has the added bonus of making the other person feel loved and appreciated, making them more likely to want to help you again.
Here are some great moments to thank people:
- A person opens a door for you
- You receive food you ordered at a restaurant
- A friend or family member made you something to eat or drink
- A stranger leaves space for you in a crowded area
- You receive a compliment
- You are given an answer to a question you had
Take every opportunity you can to thank people for the small things they do for you and you will start to notice human kindness everywhere!
5. Surround yourself with grateful people
You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
If everyone around you complains and compares all of the time, you will likely find yourself doing the same.
The best thing you can do to ensure that you successfully adopt an attitude of gratitude is to get involved with other people who practice thanksgiving.
They will be able to encourage you and uplift you instead of pulling you deeper into negativity.
6. Digest media that encourages gratefulness
Media can be sneaky.
You may feel fine while you’re using it but it is affecting you more than you think. If you are engaged in a ton of tv shows and social media that show a bunch of fancy, luxury products, you are likely going to start wanting those luxury products yourself.
Likewise, when you take in media that focuses on the beauty of the simple things, it’s a lot easier to be grateful for the things in your own life.
I’m not telling you to bypass all entertainment but I have some suggestions to help you turn all of your media channels into something that encourages an attitude of gratitude:
Social Media (Facebook, Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter, etc.)
- Only follow or friend people who speak positively. If there is someone who only ever complains on your feed, let them go.
- Create a feed that is about your hobbies and interests rather than exciting products and places you haven’t been
- Search out people who speak positively and romanticize the little things in their lives
- Create your own content and make it positive!
- If you notice that, even with these changes, you leave the site feeling bad, it might be time to consider quitting that platform for good
Movies, Television, and Video Games
- Stay away from gossip-driven entertainment
- Opt for entertainment that involves pleasant people who are happy with their lives
- Notice what sort of things trigger negative thoughts for you personally– everyone is different
- Engage in entertainment that focuses on the beauty of life
7. Try your best to live in the present moment
This is not an easy task but it is absolutely necessary if you want to reap the rewards of your new mindset.
If you are busy overanalyzing your past, you can’t be grateful or happy about what you have now.
Likewise, if you are busy worrying about the future, you will not be able to notice the good things you have in this moment.
The only way for you to feel happy with what you have in the present moment is to be fully aware of the present moment.
Don’t spend your life wishing you did things differently. Don’t set your sights on wishful thinking for the future. Focus on where you are right now.
Because right now is the only time that is truly yours and it is the only time that can actually make you feel gratitude.
8. Don’t wait for good things to happen before you practice gratitude
When you first start to adopt an attitude of gratitude, it might be difficult to find things to be grateful for. You might feel like something good needs to happen to you before you can actually feel grateful.
But this is actually great practice!
Instead of waiting for something obviously worthy of gratitude, try to find reasons to be thankful in the midst of a tough day. You will start to notice that you have all sorts of reasons to be grateful even on a bad day.
Every time you try to look deeper for moments of gratitude, you will have an easier time doing it.
In the same way, don’t wait until big moments make themselves known.
Try your best to celebrate the small things in your life, like a delicious cookie or the feeling of a soft blanket resting on your body.
9. Remember to be thankful for yourself, too!
For some people, this last tip can be a really difficult one to follow.
You are something special and the sooner you realize just how special you are, the more grateful you will feel.
You can express gratitude towards your physical body, your mental state, your skills, your hobbies, or your personality.
Express what you love about yourself and you will find the voice of your inner critic growing weaker and weaker every day.
What if it was a really bad day?
It’s important to recognize that, in the midst of this practice, you will absolutely experience bad days. Some days will be worse than others and that’s okay but it’s important that you approach these bad days with the right mindset.
These are a few things I want you to remember that may be able to help you cope in the midst of those tough moments:
Every bad day has a few good moments
No day is fully bad or fully good. There is a bit of both in every day. The next time you experience a bad day, do what you can to think of a few small things to be grateful for. It is good practice!
Some days your mental health will be working against you, and that’s okay
Another important thing to recognize is that some days will be more difficult simply because the chemicals and hormones in your body aren’t working to help you.
Don’t feel bad if you run into the occasional day where practicing gratitude just isn’t working for you.
We all have days where our minds are working against us in ways we can’t easily fight.
Give yourself space to crash if you have to and don’t beat yourself up about it the next day.
It’s also okay to be negative sometimes
One of my favourite things about adopting an attitude of gratitude instead of manifesting or being an obsessive optimist is that you are allowed to feel upset when things just aren’t working out.
If your pet dies, you don’t have to immediately find some silver lining or make up a reason why the universe must have deemed this situation necessary.
You are allowed to cry and admit that the situation stinks. You are allowed to feel pain and sorrow and express it in whatever way you need to.
What matters most is that, after you’ve processed those emotions, you are able to return to an attitude that is willing to recognize the good things in your life even when there are bad things happening.
Book Recommendations to foster more gratitude
The Book of Awesome (The Book of Awesome Series)
Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life
Choosing Gratitude: Your Journey to Joy
Living Life as a Thank You: The Transformative Power of Daily Gratitude
I hope that these suggestions were able to inspire you to add a little more gratitude to your daily routine. It really is a life-changing skill that should be prioritized in a world that is eternally unhappy.
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