Verified by Thanksgiving 365 Days a Year
While some people count blessings more readily than others, there are many ways to practice gratitude—and experience its rewards.
By PT Staff published March 1, 2006 - last reviewed on June 9, 2016
- The little stuff counts: Jot down a few things each day for which you're thankful. Try to focus on the benevolence of others instead of on material gains. And keep it fresh: The biggest benefits come from reflecting on the variety of good things in your life.
- Trouble getting started? Find a gratitude partner—like a gym buddy—and set up a time to read each other your lists. Or treat your list like a life-enhancing game in which you challenge yourself to find thoughts that will lift you out of a bad mood.
- Put it in writing: Pen a letter to a person who's been especially kind to you—family, friend or acquaintance—but whom you've never properly thanked.
- Share the love: For a regular lift, try to thank someone sincerely each day.
- Family activities: Kids tend to respond to visual cues, so stick notes around the house to remind them of specific blessings. Or kick off dinner by asking each family member to recount one thing that made her grateful that day.
- Be creative: One family set up a bare fake tree and, over the course of a month, added leaves on which they wrote the reasons why they felt thankful.
