According to a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology people who wrote letters expressing gratitude to others experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms and an increase in positive emotions compared to those who wrote about negative experiences.
That's really fascinating and sounds good. Not only the journal of positive psychology, there are many studies which prove that gratitude can reduce the depression of a person from 0.23-0.40 %.
That sounds a very small improvement but don't forget that depression is such a complex issue and getting a positive change through gratitude can be a good way to maintain a happy life.
Our research team has surfed various websites and at the end here is a compilation of everything that you need to know about gratitude.
So, stay tuned till the end to understand the complex things in simple words, with facts and real examples.
Power of Gratitude
According to a journal published on Clinmid journal , gratitude is the appreciation of an act of kindness that was done by others.
The act of kindness can be anything, it can be helping you in completing your assignment on time, giving you a seat to sit in a metro, offering you food or caring you are some case of gratitude.
Further A review by Wood et al. presented a new definition of gratitude he wrote that gratitude comes from appreciating the kindness of others together with the gratitude that comes from habitual focus on the positive aspects of life.
In short, gratitude is an act of appreciation or help that's offered by someone.
What it means to have an attitude of gratitude ?
Attitude of gratitude comes from an approach of keeping yourself positive under pressure and dilemma.
Keeping yourself positive under hard circumstances helps you in developing a positive attitude as a result you can possess gratitude in life.
An attitude of gratitude simply means thanking everyone who has helped you. Not just the one who has helped you but even those people who have offered services to you.
It can be your watchman, it can be your driver, it can be your maid or anyone who has helped you in making your life better. In the end, the one and only all might be good too.
So that's what we call an attitude of gratitude.
Benefits of practising gratitude
As written earlier, there are various studies and journals that prove that gratitude can benefit you in a lot of ways.
Here's how it can benefits you :-
1. Loss in Depression
Practising daily gratitude, thanking the people who had offered services and helped you, writing thank you letters and practising daily gratitude can help you in the loss of depression.
You will observe a slight but an effective loss in your depression, you will feel happy and relaxed when you will thank others.
Gratitude is a great way to tackle depression so you must set an attitude of gratitude in life.
2. Helps in developing a positive mindset
Gratitude helps a person in redesigning his habits.
If you are a guy who possesses gratitude and has an attitude of gratitude then surely you have observed that you reflect positivity.
Positivity in the sense, you are happy in others happiness, you tend to help others, you always keep on thinking positive about others.
Gratitude makes you feel happy and positive in life, so do follow gratitude and develop the attitude of gratitude in life.
3. Gratitude increases resilience
Gratitude makes you more tough, it makes you harder.
Here hard doesn't mean hard from the heart , it means you are mentally strong enough and capable to deal with challenges that occur in your life.
You get a new energy to fight with problems apart from that you get a specific attitude of believing in yourself as a result you keep on facing problems without any problem.
4. Gratitude can improve relationships
If we break gratitude then in simple terms it is nothing but actually the sharing of love among each other.
In a relationship, love is important as that's the one thing that keeps you attached to your partner.
When you possess gratitude in life then you get loved by your partner, you share everything with them. You become lovable.
That's a great benefit and a tip that people can use to make their relationship stronger.
5. Gratitude improves physical health
Various studies have shown that gratitude has a great benefit over your mental as well as your physical health.
Being grateful has been linked to lower levels of inflammation, improved sleep quality, and a stronger immune system. People who practise gratitude also report fewer physical symptoms such as headaches and stomachaches.
You stay more relaxed and free from any kind of stress, your blood pressure remains balanced and you stay positive and healthy.
The benefits of gratitude are endless and we can't cover all of them, but from the above benefits you get an idea about how much gratitude can benefit you in your life.
Now you might be wondering what gratitude looks like, like how to pay gratitude to a person so here is a list of examples of gratitude.
Examples of gratitude
Here are some examples of gratitude:
1. Saying "thank you" when someone does something kind for you.
2. Writing a thank you note or sending a thank you email to express your appreciation.
3. Giving a small gift to show your gratitude, such as a card, flowers, or a treat.
4. Taking the time to acknowledge someone's efforts or hard work.
5. Reflecting on the positive things in your life and feeling grateful for them.
6. Expressing gratitude for a difficult experience that taught you something valuable.
7. Acknowledging the people in your life who have helped you become who you are today.
8. Saying grace or giving thanks before a meal.
9. Practising gratitude meditation, where you focus on the things you are thankful for.
10. Simply saying "I am grateful for..." and filling in the blank with something specific.
Before we discuss the core of this article let me give you a short introduction about gratitude journals.
Express gratitude through gratitude journal
Gratitude journal is an amazing way of thanking everyone whom you have come across the whole day.
Gratitude journal is a diary where you write about everyone who has helped you.
Not just about the people but also the happy moments that happened with you throughout your whole day.
Writing a gratitude journal could be a great way to store all your happy moments together.
One benefit of using a gratitude journal is you can read all those journals when you are sad or stressed but ya that would not happen with you.
Your gratitude journal can either be an offline diary or an online editor, it's up to you. Just pick it up and start with the date and day and go ahead.
Write what you love.
So those were the benefits of gratitude. Now let's come to the core of this article: how you can incorporate gratitude into your daily routine.
5 ways to incorporate gratitude into your daily routine
1. Start your day with gratitude
When you wake up in the morning, start your day with a positive approach. Be positive.
Thank God for giving you this beautiful day once again, practise positive affirmations. Thank others whom you believe are very important in your life.
Lastly, thank yourself for believing in you and starting your day. Also don't forget to practise positive affirmations.
Positive affirmations are a great way to boost your mood in the morning. If you don't know about positive affirmations then positive affirmations are sentences that are often used by people to appreciate themselves.
Like I am the best, I can do it, I believe in myself and many more.
You can start your day with positive affirmations.
2. Practice gratitude during meals
Second step to develop the attitude of gratitude in life is everytime you sit for lunch , practice gratitude.
You can do it silently or loudly, if you are a family man then encourage your childrens to pay gratitude before having lunch.
Close your eyes and thank God for giving you such a delicious meal, ask your childrens to do the same , doing this will make you more humble and down to earth.
Not only God but also the one who has cooked food for you and your family, appreciate their efforts. Doing This will make your cook's day.
Appreciating others for their work is a first rule when you are willing to develop gratitude in life.
3. Express gratitude for others
I saw my parents talking to my relatives everyday and when I was unaware of the concept of gratitude I used to think that this was such a waste of time.
Now I realise that this is not a waste of time, managing some time for families, relatives and friends is actually a way of showing gratitude.
This shows that you care for your family, you care for your parents. So after reading this article, here's one thing that you have to do.
Call your parents and thank them, talk with them, know what they are doing. In this way your parents will feel happy and you will have a sense of happiness that will fill your heart.
4. Create a gratitude list
When you wake up in the morning pick up your gratitude journal and write 3 things that you are proud of and you are happy to have in your life.
It would just take a few seconds and believe me that could be the best start of your day.
Set aside a few minutes each day to write down things you are grateful for. This could be a physical list or a digital one on your phone or computer. Try to come up with at least three things each day, no matter how small they may seem.
5. Write a gratitude journal
Last but not the least, write a gratitude journal.
When you are going to sleep then , pick up a gratitude journal and write about the happy moments that you get in the whole day.
So those were the 5 ways to develop the habit of gratitude in your life, practise them and make your life more beautiful.
5 gratitude apps that you must try
There are many apps available that can help you cultivate a regular gratitude practice. Here are some popular gratitude apps:
1. Grateful: This app provides a daily prompt for gratitude journaling, along with inspirational quotes and the ability to add photos to your entries.
2. Three Good Things: This app prompts you to write down three good things that happened each day, which can help you focus on the positive aspects of your life.
3. Happyfeed: This app allows you to log positive moments throughout the day, which are stored in a personal gratitude journal.
4. Happier: This app provides daily gratitude prompts and allows you to track your mood and progress over time.
5. Thankful: This app encourages you to set daily gratitude reminders and provides prompts for reflection and journaling.
These apps can be helpful tools for establishing a regular gratitude practice and incorporating more positivity into your daily life.
How gratitude can transform your life ?
I hope that I don't feel any need to give the answer to this question because I know you are a reader who is packed with the knowledge of gratitude and everything that's available on the web regarding gratitude.
Our team has compiled everything that you must know about gratitude and at last here's how gratitude can change your life.
1. Gratitude makes you humble
2. Gratitude makes happy
3. Gratitude makes you positive in your life
4. Gratitude makes you attached to the basics of your culture and values.
5. You became more lovable by society.
6. You get internal happiness.
Apart from this, performing gratitude in life makes you a successful person too, because a wise man once said that your success is 20% of your education, the rest 80% are the values and virtues of life.
So that's all for now guys 😀 hope you get something new to learn. Share what else can be added to this article.
I would love to hear your thoughts.
Thank You everyone for reading this article till the end.
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