An Attitude of Gratitude Takes Practice

We’ve all heard about the impor­tance of an “atti­tude of grat­i­tude” and how great it is for our health. But between jobs, traf­fic, fam­i­lies, med­ical issues, and hec­tic every­day life, some­times we can have a hard time remem­ber­ing to pause and take stock. There are many ways we can express our grat­i­tude to oth­ers, to the uni­verse, and to our­selves, but what is real­ly impor­tant is that we cre­ate the habit of acknowl­edg­ing that grat­i­tude in the first place. Find­ing things to be grate­ful for, and being able to express our grat­i­tude are skills that need to be built up in us, much like the mus­cles you would use in your abs dur­ing a good, hearty bel­ly laugh with friends. Like any new habit, an atti­tude of grat­i­tude takes con­sis­tent prac­tice to reap the rewards.

Here are a few ways to flex your inner grat­i­tude mus­cle so you can help build a stronger, health­i­er atti­tude of grat­i­tude with­out even trying!

1. Try each day to say a gen­uine “thank you” to some­one you encounter. It could be some­one who holds open the door for you, the admin­is­tra­tive assis­tant who checks you out at the doc­tor, or a con­struc­tion work­er who is fix­ing the road you dri­ve to work. This can be done out loud and to the per­son, and bonus points for mak­ing eye con­tact and stop­ping to tru­ly express your­self, or it can be done in silence on your own. It can even be that small but much appre­ci­at­ed “wave” when some­one lets you in dur­ing your traf­fic-filled morn­ing commute.
2. Find one thing about your­self to be grate­ful for each day. Yes, I know, dear read­ers, this is not near­ly as easy as it sounds — but it pays itself off expo­nen­tial­ly in health ben­e­fits. Are you grate­ful that you are a per­son who does the dish­es right when din­ner is over and nev­er goes to sleep with a full sink? Grat­i­tude! Are you thank­ful that you are liv­ing a life with a house full of peo­ple and a sink full of dish­es that nev­er get done? Grat­i­tude! Are you glad that you spent the hour after din­ner sit­ting and talk­ing to a spouse, relax­ing on the couch, or play­ing a board game with kids, and you for­got you even had dish­es fill­ing up the sink? Grat­i­tude! It real­ly is all about the atti­tude and what mat­ters to YOU.
3. Tak­ing a moment to acknowl­edge and be grate­ful for the food that is about to nour­ish us — from the farmer who plant­ed and tend­ed the seeds, to the work­er who har­vest­ed the plants, to the super­mar­ket employ­ee who put it on the shelf, to whomev­er it was who cooked and pre­pared it for us (bonus points if it was you, because then you accom­plished two steps at once!) — helps us enjoy our food and our lives more. Pause and be mind­ful and appre­cia­tive before you eat, and you’ll find that slow­ing down by that frac­tion will help alter your out­look immeasurably.

I’m so grate­ful for you for look­ing to me as you hon­or your com­mit­ment to improv­ing your health and happiness!