How Gratitude Changed My Life and How You Can Start Your Gratitude Journey

Incorporating gratitude as a mindfulness habit is a trend that has been picking up speed the last few years. Magazine articles cover the topic, authors write books about the subject and if you do a quick search on Etsy, you can find beautiful gratitude journals. It seems that gratitude is everywhere these days and I couldn’t be happier about it.

Practicing gratitude has changed my life in a way that’s almost hard to describe. When I talk about gratitude, I don’t mean absentmindedly saying “thanks,” to the clerk at the store who helped with a purchase, or showing appreciation to a friend who does a favour (even though these are both things you should always be doing). What I’m talking about is the purposeful practice of taking at least 5 minutes every single day to think about, pray about, or journal about what you’re thankful for that day.

Sometimes I have so much I feel thankful for that I’ll end up taking close to 30 minutes sending gratitude into the universe. At the same time, there are other days when practicing gratitude can be hard. I have bad days where I’m not feeling particularly thankful, but it’s in these moments that gratitude is most important. Even on bad days when I’m grumpy, tired, sick or sad, I take 5 minutes and force my mind to think of something that I appreciate. Even if it’s as seemingly insignificant as a warm cup of coffee in the morning, I always dig deep to identify something in my life that adds light.

Gratitude is one of the most important practices in my life because it’s been incredibly impactful.

When I began my gratitude journey, I was living through the darkest period of my life. I was trying to cope with my divorce and was suffering from depression. There wasn’t much in my life that I felt thankful for. Infact, most days I struggled to even get out of bed. I knew I needed to make changes if I wanted to start to heal. One of the practices I embraced was gratitude. I figured that it wouldn’t take much effort to think about something I’m thankful for every day. I didn’t even have to leave that bed of mine.

When I started practicing gratitude daily, I didn’t really expect much. I was low and didn’t think something as simple as gratitude could change anything. Boy, was I in for a surprise. After a few weeks, I noticed some serious changes. First of all, I started to embrace the good things that still existed in my life. This helped me get out of that bed of mine and face my life. Focusing on the positive led to a more optimistic point of view, overall. This attitude change left less room in my mind to focus on my suffering or pain. I found that I woke up happier most days, was quicker to smile and felt more peace, overall.

Over the years, I have continued my gratitude journey and I can say, with full conviction, it’s the one thing I look forward to every single day. Being mindful of the blessings in my life has shifted my entire outlook and has drastically improved my mental health, overall.

3 Ways You can start Practicing gratitude today

There are a number of ways you can start your own gratitude journey. It’s super simple and you can start today! Below are some ideas to get you started.

Keep a Gratitude Journal

As I mentioned earlier in the post, there are lots of gratitude journals that you can purchase. Doing a quick search on Etsy or Amazon will produce tons of results (and there are so many really pretty ones); or, you could pick up a cheap notebook at the dollar store and make it your gratitude journal. You don’t even have to spend any money. Go digital and keep your journal on an app, your cellphone notes or a google doc. There are lots of options.

Whatever journal you choose doesn’t really matter. It’s about the writing and not the writing tool. The key is to carve out time every single day to write in your gratitude journal, even on days you don’t feel thankful.

To make it a habit, I find it best if you journal at the same time every day. I like it best to start my day with gratitude, so first thing in the morning works for me. However, I’ve also ended my days with gratitude right before going to bed and that’s a great way to wrap up a day. Maybe on your lunch break, half way through your work day, you’d like to take a moment to practice gratitude. It’s really up to you.

Make it a habit to say Thanks on your daily commute

It takes me about 15 minutes to drive to work. This used to be 15 minutes where I mindlessly navigated my way to work not really thinking about anything other than my frustration with traffic. In reality, it was 15 wasted minutes in my day.

Now, I try to use that time a bit more wisely. Instead of cursing the drivers who follow too closely behind me, I think about the things I’m thankful for. Since I’m alone, I even say them out loud. I don’t have a minimum or a maximum on the number of things to be grateful for. The point isn’t expectations or limits. I send out gratitude for as long as it takes and say as many thanks as I have inside me that day. This practice makes my commute that much more enjoyable and I don’t feel like I’m wasting that time anymore.

No Complaints for a Month

I don’t think many of us realize how much we complain. Honestly, until you take stock of all the insignificant complaining you might do on any given day, I bet you wouldn’t realize how many complaints come out of your mouth. Anything from, “the weather sucks today” to “I can’t believe how long it took to get to work” may be a daily occurrence for you. Even though this might not feel like complaining, it’s still negative sentiment which you’re putting out into the universe.

The no complaints challenge has been presented in the past by other people out there, but I love it so I’m repeating it here. The challenge is to not complain for 30 days. To help with the challenge, you could wear a bracelet to remind yourself not to complain. The bracelet could be a certain colour or have a phrase on it to keep you in the headspace of no complaints.

I would take the challenge one step further. Every time you feel the need to complain, think of something you’re grateful for instead. I like to turn complaints around into “I’m thankful I have…,” or “I’m thankful I get to…” statements. For example, instead of complaining that the drive to work took forever, you could send out gratitude by stating, “I’m thankful I have a car to drive,” or “I’m thankful I get to go to work every day.” That sort of thing.

Final Thoughts

I know that gratitude can seem like a trivial thing, but it really changed my life. It put me in the headspace of appreciation and positivity every day versus complaining and negative thoughts. The practice of gratitude doesn’t take much effort, is super easy to embrace and can impact you mental health in the most incredible way. So why not try it in your life and see what it can do for you?

Sending you peace and light. Always.

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