Gratitude Practices to Change Your Life

Gratitude isn’t just for Thanksgiving. So try it! Then make gratitude a healthy regular habit. And if I haven't told you lately, I'm grateful for you!

• Start the day with gratitude: appreciate your hot drink; the aroma and first sip, a beautiful morning, the beginning of a new day, or early morning quiet
  

• Express gratitude at mealtime: it took a lot of effort -- much of it unseen -- to put delicious, nutritious food on your plate
  

• Appreciate the small things and the people you never noticed before
  

• Make notes in your daily gratitude journal: add three new things each day, don’t repeat anything. (This one is my favorite.)
  

• Express gratitude in a letter or with a visit with a loved one
  

• Wear your gratitude on a bracelet or on a piece of clothing
  

• Make a gratitude “tree” and cover the branches with your expressions of gratitude
  

• Ask yourself questions at bedtime: What touched me or inspired me today? What made me smile? What was the best thing that happened today? Savor it.
  

• Inventory your gratitude with a list of 100 people and things you appreciate in your life
  

• Transform ingratitude to gratitude: find the good even when it's obscured

  
  

• Think about the most recent book, movie or show that you appreciated. Why?

  
  

• Call to mind the kindest thing someone has said or done recently. Even if it was just a smile.

Sources: "22 Gratitude Exercises That Will Change Your Life," by Marelisa Fabrega "Gratitude enhances health, brings happiness -- and may even extend lives," by Maureen Sullivan, Harvard Health, September 2024

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