What are you thankful for? This sounds like a question for Thanksgiving, but it’s a question we can - and should - be asking ourselves every day. By recognizing what we are thankful for, we display an attitude of gratitude that can boost our mood and benefit our mental and physical well-being. Don’t know where to start? These eight gratitude exercises will help get your mind thinking and the thankfulness flowing.

What is Gratitude?Eight Gratitude ExercisesGratitude JournalWrite A Gratitude LetterGratitude MeditationLoving-Kindness MeditationDo Something Good for OthersRead a Book About Struggle and ResilienceGo on a Nature WalkMindful and Gracious SeeingQuotes About GratitudeQuotes about Gratitude in Tough Times

What is Gratitude?

Eight Gratitude Exercises

Gratitude Journal

Write A Gratitude Letter

Gratitude Meditation

Loving-Kindness Meditation

Do Something Good for Others

Read a Book About Struggle and Resilience

Go on a Nature Walk

Mindful and Gracious Seeing

Quotes About Gratitude

Quotes about Gratitude in Tough Times

Gratitude is being thankful. You can be thankful for your health, the people around you, wealth, or nature - it’s all gratitude. Even being thankful for the “smallest” things can be very beneficial to your physical health and mental well-being. It’s important to practice gratitude every day!

The following eight gratitude exercises are easy to do, easy to access, and will drum up feelings of thankfulness to help you enjoy a more positive, healthier day.

A gratitude journal can be as simple as three bullet points. Write down three things that you are grateful for every day. They can be one word: health, family, water, etc. Try this exercise once every day as a way to slow down, center yourself, and feel grateful for at least five minutes.

(Want to make this a habit?Read more on how to create a habit here.)

If you want a one-time gratitude exercise, consider writing a gratitude letter. Think of a person whom you are grateful for - because they make your day brighter with their jokes, because they have helped you during a hard time in your life, or because they inspire you. This could be a celebrity, your parents, or someone you interacted with at the supermarket. Tell them you are grateful for them and how they have positively impacted your life. You don’t have to send this letter if you don’t feel comfortable doing so. The exercise gets you thinking about how grateful you are for this person.

Gratitude can be practiced anywhere, anytime. Try a gratitude meditation. Some guided meditations will instruct you to visualize one thing you are grateful for and let the positive feelings surrounding that thing wash over you as you breathe deeply. Gratitude meditations are on YouTube or meditation apps like Headspace Calm or Insight Timer.

Loving-kindness meditations are similar to gratitude meditations. This type of Buddhist meditation, or metta meditation, guides practitioners to visualize various people and send loving-kindness to them. As a gratitude exercise, you could think of this loving-kindness as a “thank you” to everyone for who they are and how they have impacted your life. At one point during loving-kindness meditation, practitioners are instructed to send this loving-kindness to people that theydon’tlike. Even if you have cut ties with people or they have hurt you, there is some lesson or experience that you could thank them for teaching you.

Another way to say “thank you” is to give other people a reason to say “thank you” to you! If you have time, money, or the ability to give to those less fortunate, you have something to be thankful for. Consider spending time at the local animal shelter or cooking meals for unhoused neighbors who may not have anything to eat. You have something to spare - and for that, you can be grateful!

There is a saying that goes, “If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s, we’d grab ours back.” If you are going through a hard time, you may find solace in knowing that others have gone through hard times and overcome them. Consider reading the biographies or memoirs of people who fought back against struggle. If their stories emotionally move you, you may also feel thankful that your struggles have not been as traumatic or that you have a roadmap for overcoming them and practicing resilience. The guidance of others is something to be thankful for - and with limitless access to books, movies, and other stories of hardship, there is so much we can be thankful for!

Going for regular walks in nature has been proven to increase mental and physical well-being. You could walk in nature without thinking about anything and still come back home healthier and happier than you were before. But if you want to practice gratitude, go for a walk in nature and notice all the beautiful things around you: trees, grass, paved trails, birds, etc. Looking for these things will show you just how much is outside your door and how much is possible.

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Reference this article:Practical Psychology. (2022, December).Gratitude Exercises (List + Explanations).Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/gratitude-exercises/.Practical Psychology. (2022, December). Gratitude Exercises (List + Explanations). Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/gratitude-exercises/.Copy

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Practical Psychology. (2022, December).Gratitude Exercises (List + Explanations).Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/gratitude-exercises/.Practical Psychology. (2022, December). Gratitude Exercises (List + Explanations). Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/gratitude-exercises/.Copy

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