Instant Happiness: Just Add Gratitude

Gratitude is a sentiment we’d all do well to cultivate…

…according to positive psychologists, mental health clinicians and researchers who seek to help people to create more joy in life. Feeling thankful and expressing that thanks makes you happier and heartier. Sometimes we all get stuck in negative rumination and could use a way to lift our spirits. Gratitude is like a dose of sunshine for your spirit.

‘Don’t take things for granted’

I’m sure we’ve all heard and said this countless times. The fact of the matter is that we take loads for granted! Expressing gratitude is one of the ways we can hand on our heart say we are not taking things for granted. It’s easy to wake up, go to work and complain about just about every aspect of it.

The getting up early, commuting, etc…. what about turning that around? What about being grateful to even wake up? To be in your home with a job to go to, with people who love you, food in your cupboard, heating
when it’s cold, friends, hot and cold running water, rubbish collection, Costa coffee…. You get the
point right? So much that we take for granted are the things we can notice through the eyes of gratitude.

So here’s the deal. The biggest bonus comes from experiencing gratitude habitually, a prescription if
you like, for at least 3 times a week, as a gratitude journal/diary or in the form of a letter. Simple exercises can give even natural ingrates a short-term mood boost, and once you get started, you find more and more things to be grateful for.

If you’re struggling to identify what you are grateful for, you’re not alone, sometimes when I am challenged the thing I am most grateful for is getting under my duvet and going to sleep. So no matter how small you need to start, there is ALWAYS something to be grateful for….

This week’s exercise:

Write a gratitude letter to someone who you’ve never thanked properly. It is your choice to send it or not. Notice how you feel after writing the letter. If you want to maintain this good feeling, keep a dairy and at least 3 times a week spend a few minutes before bed to note the things you are grateful for.

Keep me posted on your progress in the comments,I’ll be super grateful ;)It is useful for me to know if anyone is out there playing along!

Good luck and have a grate-ful week!