Express gratitude and change your thinking

With World Gratitude Day around the corner, we explore ways to show more gratitude and feel more positive.

Sunday 21^st September marks World Gratitude Day – a day that allows individuals and organisations across the world to celebrate what gratitude means in a variety of ways.

In particular, this annual event aims to highlight the benefits of gratitude – and how expressing appreciation and positivity for life can have profound effects on our well-being, health and relationships.

Unfortunately, in our busy and chaotic lives, it can be hard to find time to give gratitude. There are many moments when we may feel stuck and fed up, but taking time to appreciate the good things, and what we are grateful for, can be life-altering.

Benefits of gratitude:

• Helps us to realise what we have, which takes the focus off what we don’t. This can lessen our need for wanting more all the time.
• It can put situations into perspective – seeing the good, as well as the bad, can help us to feel less stuck.
• Research has shown gratitude improves stress levels, relationships and overall mood.

How to cultivate gratitude:

• Keep a gratitude journal – Write down what you are grateful for daily to help your mind focus more on the good things in life rather than the bad.
• Switch from negative to positive – If you identify someone or something with negativity, switch this in your mind to a positive trait.
• Dish out compliments – Giving out compliments daily will not only make others feel better but will have benefits for you too. You can also share your appreciation of things, such as how nice the journey to work was.
• Sound genuinely happy to others – If someone calls or messages you, make an effort to seem happy and pleased that they have done so. This will make them feel valued and will also help lift your mood.
• Avoid complaining and criticising – Vow to not complain, gossip or criticise for a couple of days and notice how your energy wasted on negative thoughts and feelings diverts to focusing on better things.

Life coaching is valuable for helping you to see the positives rather than the negatives and develop to become more productive and successful in all aspects of life. To find out more about the benefits of life coaching, please see our Life Coaching Areas page.