5 Ways to Enhance Your Gratitude Practice

1. Keep it simple. Some people have difficulty getting started with a gratitude practice because they believe that they have to come up with huge things to be grateful for. Let yourself off the hook! You do not need to focus on the big things. In fact, I encourage you to purposefully keep it simple. This has a few benefits. Your brain can’t tell the difference between something that you consider “big” or “small.” Those are just labels/judgment that we put on things. Your brain doesn’t care! You still receive a dose or serotonin and dopamine, helping to elevate mood. In addition, thinking about one simple thing that you’re grateful for can help prevent negative thoughts from spiraling out of control. You prevent that from happening by focusing on one simple thing that you’re grateful for, sending your thoughts in a positive direction. Lastly, when you intentionally keep it simple, you are training your brain to notice and appreciate all of the “small” every day things, people, and experiences in your life, resulting in literally seeing the world differently, and changing the structure of your brain to be a more positive thinker. And that simply leads to more joy, even on a difficult day.

2. Connect with the feeling of gratefulness. You may hear a lot about making lists about what you’re grateful for. This can be powerful to help you scan your environment to be more aware of things you may have previously overlooked. However, this is only as powerful as you are able to connect to the feeling. So if your list making is more of a thinking exercise than a feeling exercise, it may be more powerful if you choose just one thing/person/experience on your list, and connect with the feeling of gratefulness.

3. Be specific. Your gratitude practice will be more powerful if you think about why you are grateful, rather than just making the list. So if you are grateful for your best friend, think about why. Is it because she gives great hugs, keeps your secrets, finishes your sentences, helped you through difficult times? The feeling of gratefulness and resulting impact on mood is more powerful when you think about the details and the why, rather than making a long list.

4. Mix it up! When thinking about what you’re grateful for, challenge yourself to think about something different every day. So if you thought/wrote about your best friend one day, challenge yourself to come up with different people/experiences/things other than your best friend for one month. You can also mix it up in your method. For example, one day, your gratitude practice may be include thinking about what you’re grateful for. Another day may be writing about what you’re grateful for. Another day may be writing someone a gratitude letter.

5. Begin and end your day with gratitude. Neuroscientist Tara Swart explains that when we are first waking up (hypnopompic state), and when we are falling asleep (hypnagogic state), we are in states of consciousness that are powerful for creativity and great ideas. This can be used to enrich and deepen your gratitude practice. Emotionally, these are great times for a gratitude practice. Thinking about what you are grateful for in the morning helps to elevate mood. That elevated mood can last for hours into your day. Thinking about what you’re grateful for at bedtime is a nice way to review your day, helps to induce relaxation and facilitate more restful sleep.

Need some more creative ways to practice gratitude? Sign up for my FREE 5-Day Gratitude Delight. Each day, you’ll receive an email with a link to a short video lesson, and downloadable “growsheet” to help you put the idea in to action. You can sign up by clicking HERE.

ENJOY!