Practicing gratitude makes you happy – 3 gratitude exercises that can help you being thankful!

It are not the happy people being grateful, but the grateful people being happy. A lot of research shows that when you practice gratitude and do exercises to become more thankful you automatically become more happy. I believe practicing gratitude daily can be one of the most beneficial things you can do for yourself. In my own experience it can completely change the way you look at life in a positive way. In the following video I will share three powerful exercises that can help you becoming more thankful and under the video you can read them one more time.

3 ways to practice gratitude

1. Use it when you wake up

One of the best moments you can use it and reprogram your subconscious mind, is right when you wake up. In my own experience the moment after we wake up is a moment that a lot of (negative) thoughts can occupy our mind and when we start this moment with gratitude we plant a seed for the rest of the day.

What I would recommend right after you wake up is to try to think of a couple of things you are thankful for. This can be anything, it can be something that happened the day before, it can be family or friends, it can be your pet and it can even be an object you are thankful for.

If something negative comes up, or you forget it right after waking up, try be kind to yourself and just become aware of it and then start thinking about the things you are grateful for. You will see that when you do this for some time it will be easier and easier and also makes it throughout the day simpler.

If you easily forget doing the exercise it can be helpful to place a not next to your bed saying something to remind you. For instance: Thankfulness!

2. Make a gratitude list

One of the most powerful things you can do is to make a gratitude list. Just plan 5 till 10 minutes a day to make a list of 3 things of the last 24 hours your are grateful for. You can take anything you are thankful for. In my experience it is the strongest when you also take small things, like a cup of tea or a walk in nature, because you start noticing all the small things you appreciate and this makes you happier.

I would recommend to take a fixed moment during the day, because in that way it becomes easier to stick with it. This can be in the morning or evening, that does not matter.

3. Use it throughout your day

The last thing that really helps is starting to thank things that you do throughout your day. If you for instance get cup of tea or coffee you can say: “I am so thankful for this cup of tea/coffee and that I can drink this and pay for it”, or if you go to the park with a friend think: “I am so grateful that I have a friend were I can do nice things with”.

In this way you plan a lot of little moments that you practice and after some time it becomes a habit and you notice much better what you appreciate in your daily life and how many things you actually have to be thankful for.

I hope that these three practices can also help you becoming more thankful and happy. For me they have made a huge impact on my life and on my well-being.

Perhaps you are also interested in my self-love course where you learn to love yourself more.