4 Ways To Use Gratitude To Improve Your Life

With Thanksgiving fresh on my mind, I wanted to share with you how I use gratitude to improve my life. Practicing gratitude was a skill I learnt very late in life. I mean don’t get me wrong, I had manners and said thank you often. Although I had heard and thought I understood the saying “Appreciating the small things in life.” I now realize that until I started doing my own daily gratitude practice, I didn’t truly understand it as deeply as I do now.

Gratitude is an unbelievable superpower! The more grateful you are, the more you will have to be grateful for! Gratitude is something you must choose to see. It’s is a mindset that needs to be nurtured every day. Let’s explore four little ways to cultivate more gratitude in your life.

One – Have a morning gratitude practice.

There’s nothing better than starting your day off with a gratitude practice to appreciate the blessings that are right in front of you. When you take a few minutes first thing in the morning to acknowledge some of the little blessings in your life, it opens up your eyes to so many more. It’s true that what you focus on in life is what multiplies.

I start off my mornings writing down, yes using an old fashioned pen and notebook (have I ever mentioned my unhealthy obsession with pretty stationary and pens?), five things I’m grateful for from the previous 24 hours. Not gonna lie guys, when I first started this practice, I really struggled in this area. It wasn’t because I wasn’t grateful for the things I had though, but rather it was because I had never thought about how I had so many privileges in life that others didn’t. We have so many privileges that others don’t have and I felt like I had been taking them for granted simply by not acknowledging them. It’s not because I didn’t logically know this. It’s because I didn’t think about it. Once I let go of my unrecognized expectations of having anything in life and started looking at them as blessings, my entire mindset shifted and I became happier.

I should also mention that it’s not good enough to just write things down. The key piece here friends is to stop for a moment, think about this thing or person or event that brings you joy and really allow yourself to feel it and view it as the blessing that it truly is.

Two – Let your loved ones know about your daily blessings.

This will not only improve the gratitude in your life, it will also improve connection in your relationships. A gratitude practice that we have in our home is that every evening at supper, we each go around the table and share with the others three things that we’re grateful for from that day.

This is also a sneaky way to find out about your family’s day. We all know the “how was your day?” answer people normally give. “It was fine.” Or “It was ok.” But if you listen, they will tell you about their day right in their gratitude. This also provides you with a lot of insight into what they value in their lives. There’s nothing sweeter than hearing about the simple things that brought your kids joy that day……playing with friends at recess, jumping on the trampoline at daycare, snuggles with mama.

When you know that you will need to write this down or share this with others, you will start looking for all the blessings in your life throughout the day. Just the other day when I was out for a run, I saw two bunnies run across the park and I immediately felt very blessed to have witnessed that. In the past, I may not have even given that a second thought.

Three – Show your appreciation.

No one owes you anything in life. Not one single person. The sooner you realize this and let go any expectations you have on them, the sooner you will stop being disappointed and be grateful for what they do give you. Say thank you. A lot. As often as you can. Be intentional about it. Make it important to you. Thank people for the little things, even the ones they wouldn’t expect a thank you for. People like to feel appreciated! It helps them feel loved. And feeling loved is a human need. We could all use more love in our lives.

Four – Give back to others.

Giving back to others is another really great way to improve the gratitude in your life. This can take so many different shapes and forms. Some people have money and can donate to causes. Others have more time on their hands and also some skills they can use to help organizations. Whatever that looks like, it’s important to give back in society. There are many great causes that are always looking for time or money as support. If you approach this out of obligation, then you’re missing the point. Approach it from a place of wanting to contribute to something bigger than yourself. Recognize and be grateful that you have the privilege of being able to give back to others in need. Being treasurer for an organization is something I’ve always really enjoyed doing.

Life isn’t about how much you have, whether that’s things or people in your life, it’s about how much you enjoy the ones you do have. If you’re always looking for something else, you will miss out on the things right in front of you and one day they may be gone. Once you start looking for the blessings in life, it will be easier to let go of the things that don’t bring you as much joy. You can’t have everything you want in life, but everything you need is right in front of you. I hope these suggestions help improve the gratitude in your life!

Guys – we are so blessed in our lives and I wish for you that you can see the blessings you have too!

---

Want to start your own gratitude practice?

Get my free lists of gratitude prompts to kick start your practice today!