Creating a Life of Gratitude

7 Benefits of Living a Grateful Life

Living a grateful life means more than having a smile on your face. There are hidden benefits that will improve the overall quality of your life, and here are seven that you should know about now. It is recommended to have a gratitude journal or to daily jot down on paper what you are grateful for, no matter how small.

1. When you have trouble sleeping, it could be several issues. Take a look at what you think about before you sleep. It is difficult to drift off when you think about bills, arguments, or how much you need to accomplish it is difficult to drift off. Try writing down at least 3 to 5 things you are grateful for. It may be something that happened to you today, including a daily feeling of being thankful for your loved ones. When you go to bed and think about what you wrote down, you will find sleep comes easier as your mind works in the background finding more reasons to be grateful.
2. In addition to sleeping better because of your gratitude, you increase your overall mental strength. Past emotional wounds may begin to heal as you see that life has much to offer. Studies have shown that people who suffer from relationship trauma, or PTSD, for example, improve their mental well-being.
3. Being grateful for the big things that life offers and even the tiny things, such as the love your pet has for you, works wonders. Your self-esteem will start to grow as you feel love and give love. Some people may have negative feelings towards those they consider to have better jobs or lives. Profoundly examining their own lives and seeing everything they have to be grateful for, in turn, increases the person’s self-esteem.
4. As the person’s self-esteem rises, they will also find that they deepen existing relationships and open the doors to new ones. Some of these new relationships may be business-related and account for a unique and improved way of working.
5. Practicing daily gratitude has many positive effects in terms of emotional well-being. It helps reduce anger, sadness, and being envious of others and decreases the amount of frustration a person feels.
6. In this hectic world, many people get frustrated, but they can become aggressive in certain situations. This comes from lacking empathy toward what others may be going through. Practicing daily gratitude can help be more empathic towards others because of understanding life’s issues and not allowing them to cloud the thinking process. Empathy will improve your relationship with a partner, as it equates to showing great love.
7. In viewing the seven benefits of gratitude, you see how well it works for decreasing mental stress, among other things. As this happens, it improves the physical body. Negative feelings cause pain. Science has shown us that when someone has an excruciating back, in many cases, they are thinking negative thoughts over a short period, and this weakens the body. All the cells in the body communicate, and when a person is very grateful for what they have, it gets passed along, the body relaxes, and the muscles are not tense. Everything begins to flow smoothly from the digestive system to the force required to do everyday activities.

Start using these tips today to live a grateful life and enjoy beautiful relationships. Time on earth is short, and why not spend it being happy and thankful for all the blessings you have.

10 Gratitude Exercises That Will Change Your Life

There are many gratitude exercises that you can engage in to improve your life. The following list of ten can be adopted as the starting point to your gratitude journey.

1. First, get a gratitude journal and use it daily. Put your thoughts about what you are grateful f in the book with a pen or pencil and make the sentences large and easy to read. You will go back to the journal frequently when you need inspiration.

2. Prayer is another exercise that has enormous benefits. If you are the type of person to pray, then state what you are grateful for in your life. When prayer is not part of your life, use the time to thank mother earth and the universe for all that they have given you.

3. During the day, you may forget to be grateful. To avoid that, choose a unique necklace, bracelet or even a coin that you can touch and immediately feel a sense of gratitude.

4. Many people purchase packs of gratitude notes, and after putting in a handwritten thank you, they make sure to give it to someone they are grateful. You could also special order pens with a special saying on the side. Choose something like “Thank you or have a great day” to be inscribed.

5. In your home, choose one item that fills you with joy and is grateful to have. Sit quietly and focus on that item, and think of why you are thankful for it and the other blessings in your life. For example, you may have a red vase in your home that when the sunlight hits it, the entire vase lights up and gives you a sense of calmness.

6. To make sure you stay on the path of being grateful, find a gratitude partner. You can tell each other what you are thankful for, and by having a partner, you won’t be stuck for ideas. The other person can ask probing questions about what you may be grateful for today.

7. Negativity surrounds us. However, our sole responsibility is to ensure that it deflects when it tries to enter our minds. To take it to the next step, pick a day to consciously work on, not having a negative thought. The moment the first part of a negative sentence enters your mind, mentally shout, “Stop!”

8. Have a quick walk around the neighbourhood in the morning. Look for what pleases you and fills you with gratitude. It could be a dog that always greets you and wags its tail. Or it may be a neighbour’s big climbing rose bush with all the beautiful yellow roses.

9. You can do this next exercise, and it is compelling to do with children. Gather up some supplies and prepare to make a gratitude flower or tree. You could use cardboard rolls for the stalk or tree trunk. Coloured paper is used for each leaf, and this is where you write out what you are grateful for. For example, one leaf could say, “I am grateful for my breakfast.”

10. To finish out your day, you have a bedtime exercise. You write out 3 to 5 things that you were grateful for today. For example, write out, “I am grateful that John in accounting gave me a great tip on budgeting my money.” After you have done that, post it on the bathroom mirror. When you get up in the morning, you will quickly review what you wrote and get right into the proper frame of mind for writing in your morning gratitude journal.