To live a happy life with a positive mindset, you need to have more gratitude. Gratitude
is one of the building blocks of developing a more positive outlook on life, and is key to
living in the moment and appreciating all of the amazing things in your life.
Here are some reasons why gratitude can be the most impactful way to develop a
positive mindset.
Gratitude Helps You See How Much There is to Be Happy About
When you have a positive mindset, you are a more optimistic person and can see the
good in just about everything. But it is hard to get to this point without first
understanding how to see the bright side. This is where gratitude comes in.
With a gratitude practice, you are able to start understanding how much joy there is in
the world and how many blessings you already have in your life. It starts becoming very
clear how much you have in your life already that you can be happy about, which further
encourages your positive mindset to take hold.
It Helps You Shift Your Perspective When Negative Thoughts Enter Your Mind
In addition to allowing you to see how many blessings you have to be thankful for, a
gratitude practice can also help you to shift your perspective. Reframing negative
thoughts is a process and not always easy in the beginning. It takes practice, just like
any other change you make. But with gratitude, you are able to develop more resilience,
which makes it much easier to shift your negative thoughts.
You won’t always be able to avoid negative thoughts, as they are the response to
challenges and obstacles that enter your life. But with more gratitude in your life, you
build up that ability to look past it, learn from it, and still maintain your positive mindset.
You Can Make a Habit of Being Grateful No Matter What
Another way gratitude is key to having a positive mindset is by helping you to create a
habit of always feeling grateful no matter what is going on in your life. This is a
wonderful side effect of a gratitude practice, as it becomes a habit you don’t even have
to think about.
Maybe you are having a bad day where it seems like everything is going wrong, but you
walk outside for fresh air, and feel a cool breeze on your skin and can hear birds
chirping in the trees. These simple moments you might have not noticed before, but
now you are able to sit for a minute and feel immense gratitude for the beauty in the
world, even though other life circumstances wanted you to feel negatively.
Ways to Practice Gratitude
The great thing about gratitude is that it is really easy to start a daily practice, and will
soon become a habit you love to have in your routine. There are many ways you can
practice gratitude, depending on your lifestyle and personal preferences. Here are a few
ways to consider adding to your routine:
Make a gratitude list in your journal
The easiest way to be grateful for your life is to start writing about it in your journal. Every day, make a list of 5-10 things you are grateful for that day. Remember that it doesn’t have to be a big thing and they don’t have to be different every day. If you are grateful for your comfortable bed, write about it every single day if you want to.
Start a gratitude bowl, box, or jar
A gratitude bowl or jar is one filled with folded up pieces of paper, each of which contain a different thing you are grateful for. Every day, you can write one thing you are feeling gratitude about on a small piece of paper, fold it up, and add it to the jar. At the end of the year or when the jar is full, take them out and read them.
Do nice things for other people
Gratitude isn’t always about yourself, in fact often times it’s not. You can also express your gratitude by helping other people. This way of giving back helps you to acknowledge how blessed you are, because you want others to have things to be grateful for as well.
Be grateful during mindful moments
You can also choose the moments when you are being more mindful to think about what you are grateful for in that moment. It might be a good meal, time with friends, or sitting outside watching your kids play in the yard.
Every moment of your life gives you another thing to be grateful for.