How To Show Gratitude

If I’ve learned anything over these past 7-8 months, it’s that there is nothing more powerful than a grateful heart and state of mind. Applying some of these acts of gratitude to your daily life is not only easy, but really enjoyable!

Focusing on gratitude invites more joy and good things into your life. Plus, feeling grateful feels good. When you go through life with a grateful mindset, you and those around you also benefit. It’s a positive experience for you as the gratitude giver, and for anyone receiving it!

If this is a newer practice for you, start with the people in your life! You know them best, so it should be easier to find things that you’re grateful for. And, hopefully these good ideas below can help get you started.

How To Show Gratitude

Keep a Gratitude Journal

One of the easiest and best ways to focus your energy and mindset on gratitude is to spend time each day, or a few times a week to write down the things you’re grateful for. This list may get repetitive, but I promise that the more you do it, the easier it is to find more things you’re grateful for.

When doing this, I always start each sentence with “I’m so happy and grateful that …… because it makes me feel…..” I think it’s really important to attach your feelings to the gratitude to give it more power!

Write a Note

Surprise friends and family with a handwritten note or letter! My sweet friend Nora sent me several postcards over the past few months. They were short & sweet, but so meaningful and special to receive. It probably took her all of 3 minutes to write, but it made such a difference in my day—thanks Nora!

Do Random Acts of Kindness

Actions sometimes speak louder than words, so don’t focus all your gratitude energy on writing, put it into action. Help a neighbor, do something nice without being asked, offer assistance to a stranger who looks like they need it. These small acts go so much further than you could ever imagine.

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Show Gratitude with your Words

It’s easier to write down gratitudes or show our gratitude with our actions, but it can be a little harder to actually show gratitude with your words. But, words are so powerful, for both the giver and receiver.

Take the time to show gratitude for those in your life with your words, it will have such a huge impact on them!

Give a Compliment

I find that one of the easiest ways to show gratitude to your partner, a family member, people at work or a teacher—anyone really—is to simply give them a compliment. We go about our days so busy all the time, that when someone compliments you, it totally catches you off guard—in a good way!

What’s great about giving someone a compliment is that it completely shifts their energy and you feel good doing it too. You can even do this on social media—even though it’s a “social” platform, it can sometimes feel isolating, so this can be an easy way to make it feel more human and connected.

Recite Morning Gratitudes

It can be easy to forget, but if you start with gratitudes first thing in the morning, it makes it easier to remember throughout your day.

This is something I try to do daily because it requires very little effort after you remember! As soon as my alarm goes off, I always start with “thank you for this day” and then continue to think of other things that I’m grateful for—energy, a body that gets me up and feeds my kids, a home that keeps us safe, a job that I love. The list goes on and on.

Starting your morning with that mindset puts the rest of your day on the right track.

Meditate on Abundance

It’s so easy to get caught up in all the things we don’t have. But, what if instead for a day, maybe even a whole week, you focused on how much you do have! I’m a big believer in focusing on what you do want and what you do have, brings more good into your life.

Next time you catch yourself worrying about lack, stop, and change your thought pattern to focus on what you do have.

Here’s a quick example: “I have so much student debt, ugh!”—change your thought to something like, “I’m so grateful for a job that allows me to pay off my student debt and work towards the life I want.” See how that works? You’re now focused on abundance and you’ll attract more good into your life simply thinking that way.

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Stop Complaining

Lastly, I challenge everyone (myself included!) to stop complaining. This sort of goes with the tip above. But complaints bring negativity and the more negative you’re thinking, the harder it is to focus on gratitude.

If you’re a naturally pessimistic person, this will be hard, but complaining is draining! Focusing on love, gratitude and things that bring you joy feels amazing!

What ways do you like to show gratitude? How does it make you feel when you practice it regularly?

BTW, 7 ways to practice gratitude in the morning, and 10 unexpected ways to find joy in the every day.