Five Tools to Help Mark Gratefulness
Expressing gratitude is a powerful way to improve mental and emotional well-being while strengthening relationships with others. Here are five methods to mark gratefulness in your daily life:
Gratitude Journaling
Gratitude Journaling: Keeping a gratitude journal is a popular and effective way to mark gratefulness. Set aside a few minutes each day to write down a few things you are grateful for. These can be big or small, from a supportive friend to a beautiful sunset. Reflecting on specific positive aspects of your life can foster a sense of appreciation.
Thank You Notes
Thank-You Notes: In our digital age, we often don’t take the time to write and mail notes. The rarity of these notes means that when you do get a “real” piece of mail, it can significantly brighten someone’s day. Take the time to think about others, write down how you’re grateful for them, and deliver the note to them. These actions will also bless the outlook of you, the giver.
Acts of Kindness
Acts of Kindness: Showing gratitutde for others can include a thank you note but doesn’t have to be limited to written forms of expression. Commemorate gratitude for others by spending time with them doing things you know brings them joy, buying them a gift that will brighten their day, or doing an act of service that will make them feel known.
Gratitude Traditions
Gratitude Traditions: One of my favorite family traditions growing up was our annual Thanksgiving Blessings Jar. Throughout the year, the Blessings Jar and slips of paper rested on a bookshelf. Family members wrote down things they were grateful for. On Thanksgiving, we would read all the notes collected through the year and be reminded of these positive memories throughout the year. Maybe there were hardships, but there were always glimmers of gratefulness shining through.
It doesn’t have to be the same tradition, but find traditions that build gratitude into your life. It could be as simple as having regular, intentional dinners with family or friends and using a list of gratitude conversation starters to spark dinner conversations.
Gratitude Perspective Moments
Make Time for Moments that Put Your Heart in a Perspective of Gratitude: Natural beauty in creation, conversations in a coffee shop with a friend who listens well, long road trips, bonfires in the fall, baking on a rainy day… These are the types of things that personally help move my heart to a perspective of gratitude. In the busyness of life, these things might seem superfluous. They don’t meet common goals, do they? But, if you neglect to take advantage of these moments and truly drink them in, you can easily get swept into a rush for more, a sure way to start a spark of discontentment seep in.
Take note of the moments that naturally move your heart to gratitude. Make time for these activities. They are not a waste of time.
If you’re not careful, a rush for more, more, more and a pull toward me-centerdness can be your focus. Guarding against discontentment means actively practicing gratitude. Identify methods that help you take personal note of things and people you’re grateful for and take the step to share that gratitude with others in genuine, joy-filled ways.