10 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude in Your Daily Life, According to Psychology

You pray in your distress and in your need; would that you might pray also in the  fullness of your joy and in your days of abundance.

Khalil Gibran

We all pray when we need something, but how conveniently do we forget to pray when we have everything?  

Let’s look at a story:  

Vikram and Aniruddha were childhood friends. They were inseparable growing up, but their personalities were as different as chalk and cheese. Aniruddha dreamed of faraway things, a better life in a different country, a beautiful house and a grand lifestyle. These aspirations left him feeling constantly unsatisfied with whatever he had. He kept running after something that was yet to come forgetting to be thankful for whatever he already had. Vikram on the other hand was content with whatever he had. He had his aspirations but was not going crazy running behind them. He spent time with his loved ones, appreciated the things that he already had and felt a sense of satisfaction. 

In a tragic turn of events, Aniruddha had a bike accident. The doctor advised him to complete bed rest for one month. This one month was transforming for him. Initially, he would get very frustrated, thinking of the time that he was losing but Vikram helped him to change his perspective of looking at things. Slowly he learnt to be grateful. He started noticing the importance of small things in his life. He felt grateful for the people around him who cared for him; he started enjoying whatever he already had. After one month, Aniruddha was a changed man. He learnt the importance of stopping and being thankful for his life.  

This story illustrates the importance of being thankful for the present.  So what does being grateful mean? 

Gratitude in layman’s words is being thankful for whatever you have. People often think that practising gratitude means you ignore the challenges and problems of life. But that is not the truth – gratitude is not living in a dreamland, ignoring the lows of life. Gratitude is something that holds both the highs and lows of life; it is something that will help you navigate the roads through the lows of life. We only realize the value of something when we lose it. For instance, we do not understand the value of water unless we feel thirsty and don’t have water. Gratitude is appreciating things when you have an abundance of it.  

Read More: Gratitude: A Key to Happiness

Importance of Practicing Gratitude

Now the question arises – why exactly is gratitude important?  

Gratitude is like a ray of sunshine on gloomy days. It helps you to refocus on good things in the challenging times. If we want to list down the benefits of practising Gratitude in daily life, this is what it will  look like-

• Improves patience: There is also said to be a connection between increased patience and practising Gratitude. Gratitude helps in increasing self-control. 
• Helps in improving mental health: Being thankful for whatever you have in life makes you satisfied with your life. Staying positive can improve your mental health,  help you better deal with challenging times and help you stay happy  
• Increases self-esteem: Being grateful for everything you have also helps you to change the way you look at yourself. Seeing that there are so many things and people around you who love you makes you internalize the thought that you are worthy of the things that you get. It helps in boosting your confidence.  

This is not all, other than this gratitude also has a positive impact on physical health, improves the relationships of life, etc.  

10 Ways to Cultivate Gratitude in Daily Life

1. Live in the moment  

Life becomes more meaningful when you realize the simple fact that you’ll  never get the same moment twice.

As the world keeps moving forward, we keep running after it often forgetting to stop and look around. One of the greatest examples of this is Corona Virus. It made us realize that tomorrow is very uncertain. The future that we all have been going after is too far away, the only thing that exists is that moment. It is important to take a breather and enjoy the moment. In the dream of making the future better, we forget to live for today.  One of how you can start cultivating Gratitude in your life is by staying in the moment. Completely experiencing the moment will help you better appreciate it. Some of the things you can do to completely live in the moment are – 

• Focus on one task at a time  
• Take breaks in between to refresh  
• Try and keep your electronics away. This will help you concentrate on whatever is in front of you and not get distracted.  

2. Say ‘Thank you’ more often 

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough –

Meister  Eckhart 

This might sound funny but saying thank you is very important. Even though Hindi films say that you don’t need to say sorry and thank you to your friends you must appreciate the efforts of people around you. Sometimes, we start taking things for granted- the food that is on our plate, the hands that prepare it, the shoulder that you cry on or the home we come back to, we stop seeing them after a while because they are always there.  

But what if one day you wake up and things are not the way they are? Scary right.  

Start saying thank you to people who are making your days easier. Say thank you to your friends for sticking by you, for the food on your plate, your house help who cleans the place that you call home. Thank you may sound like a small word but it has a lot more power than we realize.  

Read More: Gratitude and its Impact on Mental Health

3. Maintain a Gratitude Journal  

Maintaining a Gratitude journal is a simple but effective way to practice gratitude in your day-to-day life. Writing down the things that you are grateful for before sleeping will make you feel content and increase your happiness. This daily practice will remind you to focus on all the things that you have instead of all the things that you want. Some tips to start your journey of gratitude journaling:

• Try being consistent  
• Start with simple things like writing down 5 things you are grateful for today.  
• Don’t forget to focus on small things in daily life along with big accomplishments.
• Detailed writing will help you relive the experience and help you understand you’re positive emotions better. 

4. Remember your previous challenging times 

Going back to your stormy times may not be a very pleasant experience but it will help you feel grateful for your present times. Thinking about the times when you were struggling and things were not going the way you wanted them to will make you reflect on your journey and see how far you have come.  You will see how much you have grown as a person. For example – you will better appreciate your home-cooked meals more after you had not so great experience with food in your hostel. By making your tough times into a lesson you can better cultivate gratitude for your present times.  

5. Practice mindfulness 

“Mindfulness isn’t difficult. We just need to remember to do it.”

Sharon Salzberg 

Even though the concepts of mindfulness and living in the moment seem like the same there is a difference between the two. Mindfulness is deliberately being completely aware of your thoughts, emotions and your surroundings. For example: when you are reading a book, you are fully experiencing the moment. You focus on the words, feel all the emotions and even if your attention wanders you try to bring it back to the pages. 

Living in the moment on the other hand means you completely engage in the task in front of you without worrying about the future or reminiscing the past. When you start to become more mindful you start becoming more aware of the good things in your life. Being fully aware of all the things helps you change your perspective from all the things you don’t have to appreciate the things that you already have. You also connect with yourself better. 

6. Participate in Volunteering activities  

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

Albert Einstein

Have you ever given chocolate to an underprivileged child? The smile on his face is far more precious than any other wealth in the world. The world is an unfair place. Some people have more than they need and others do not even have enough to get by. Volunteering or giving people something be it your time or any other kind of help makes you appreciate and feel thankful for what you have. Volunteering or helping others is an effective way to feel grateful for your gifts in life.  

7. Spend time with Nature  

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.

John Muir

There is nothing more magical than the nature. Spending time with nature will help you self-reflect. Every sunrise, sunset, and flower in nature teaches you something.  Nature helps you feel more connected with the world, it makes you more humble. It reduces your stress and helps in improving your mental health. Seeing the beauty of nature increases the feeling of gratefulness and makes you appreciate the gift of life. Try spending one hour every day surrounded by nature and surely feel the difference. You will feel more contended and satisfied.  

8. Use visual cues  

In the daily hectic routine of life, we tend to forget to be grateful for whatever we have. Having visual cues, like seeing the things that you already have will remind you to stay grateful. Visual reminders will help you cultivate the feeling of gratefulness. Some ways in which you can use visual cues to cultivate gratitude are – 

• Photographs: having photos of your loved ones will remind you of the positive relationships in your life. 
• Inspirational quotes: hanging inspirational quotes about gratitude at your workplace or in your house will serve as a reminder to practice gratitude.  
• Post-it notes: post-it notes are another way can help you remember all the good things in your life. Writing gratitude messages like “I am thankful to have a job that helps me feed myself and live a comfortable life” will assist you in appreciating your life.  

9. Spend time with your loved ones

Spending time with the people who love you, shows you how happy you can be. 

As the complexities of life increase, we spend less and less time with the people who care about us. Why do we want to earn money? To give a better life to our loved ones. But what use is that money if it takes away your time with the people for whom you are earning that money?  

Time is never there but you have to take out time for your loved ones. Spending time with the people who love and care for you will strengthen your relationship with them, improve mental health, reduce stress levels and create a sense of gratitude within us. By putting in effort to be with the people who love you, you will realize the importance of emotional relationships in your life and also feel grateful to have such people in your life who want to be with you.  

10. Small acts of kindness  

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.

Aesop  

A small word of kindness will make someone’s day better. A small compliment to your friend when they look good or a small thank you to a helper will make a whole lot of difference to that person. Help a stranger to carry heavy bags, help that elderly person cross the road. These things may look small but slowly over time, these acts will change your perspective of looking at things. You not only make others feel better but also cultivate a sense of thankfulness within yourself. This will also foster stronger social bonds. Doing small acts of kindness will also help in increasing empathy making you believe in the goodness of the world.  

 Conclusion

Do you see the glass half full or half empty? 

Gratitude takes the answer to this question one step ahead.  

Gratitude is seeing the glass half full and being thankful for that water. We all want something better, a better phone, a better car, a better job and sometimes even better friends.  But in the process of looking for something better, we forget to be thankful for things that we already have.  

In the Bollywood movie Yeh Jawani hai deewani – the lead character – Naina says it right. She says that of course there is always going to be something better around the corner, but if we keep running after the best how will we experience what we have now?  

It is important to be thankful for the things that you have. Cultivating gratitude in your daily life has a lot of benefits like better sleep, reduced stress, and overall life satisfaction. But it is not simple. Even if it feels easy to practice gratitude it is not. You have to deliberately put in effort to feel thankful for everyday things. It is very easy to keep complaining about all the things that you don’t have but it is difficult to appreciate the small joys that our life is made up of. 

To genuinely practice gratitude in your daily life you can try out strategies like – maintaining a gratitude journal, saying ‘thank you’ for all the good things in your life, spending time with nature, participating in volunteering activities like visiting an NGO, etc.  All these activities will help you better appreciate whatever you have in your life; it will make you compassionate towards others and humble towards your own life.  Gratitude will make you feel happy and satisfied with your life. Cultivating gratitude in your everyday life will lead you to live a more meaningful and fulfilling life. 

Read More: 5 Simple Ways to Find Meaning and Purpose in Life

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial  into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.

Melody Beattie