Practicing gratitude involves noticing and appreciating everything in life, even the little things.  When I talk about gratitude with some of my friends or clients and suggest they start practicing by simply noticing 3 things they are grateful for each day, I’m often met with the response that they don’t have 3 things to be grateful for.  This mindset amazes  me because before I even get out of bed, I’ll have found 3 things I’m grateful for; the fact that I’m in a bed in a house and not sleeping on the streets, that I’m alive and healthy and that I have a whole new day full of possibilities ahead of me, but I wasn’t always like that. 

Living with an eating disorder, or any other mental health condition, often causes us to only notice the things that are going wrong in our lives.  We are so caught up in our heads we aren’t present enough to notice the little things, things like the sun warming our skin or being healthy enough to be able to sit in a park and enjoy a coffee.  But it’s by noticing these little things that helps change a mindset from being negative to being positive. From switching from being a pessimist and thinking about what could go wrong to being an optimist and seeing what could go right.  Gratitude can help people to feel happier and more connected to the world around them and enhance overall wellbeing.

Benefits of Regularly Practicing Gratitude

Although a simple practice that anyone can engage in at any time, there are many proven benefits of having a consistent gratitude practice.  These include:

·      Improved mood and happiness

·      Feeling more inspired and motivated

·      Improved sleep

·      Reduced stress

·      Being more creative

·      Higher energy levels

·      More optimistic

·      Better relationships

·      Higher sense of self worth

I’ll be honest and say if someone had told me 10 years ago that a daily gratitude practice would completely change my attitude and mindset, I wouldn’t have believed them.  But it did and now, although I do have a dedicated time twice per day to list the things I’m grateful for, I automatically notice and give thanks for things regularly throughout each and every day.

There are many ways to practice gratitude, and the important thing is to find a way that works for you and practicing regularly.  Personally, I prefer writing lists and journaling but some other ways to practice gratitude you could try are:

1.        Have a gratitude jar: Write down things you are grateful for on little pieces of paper and put them into the jar.  Then when you are having a hard day, randomly take one out to read and remind yourself that even on challenging days there are still good things happening around you.

2.        Take a gratitude walk:   It doesn’t matter where you go, it’s about having the intention to observe the things you see and notice how they make you feel.

3.        Keep a gratitude rock:  Finding a pebble, stone or something similar that you either carry with you or leave in sight.  Then, when you see or touch it pause to think of something you are grateful for in that moment.

4.        Keep a gratitude journal:  Write about the things you are grateful for, whether as a list, using prompts or just free-style reflecting, write them down.  There is no right or wrong way of doing it, it’s just about finding a way that works for you. 

Below I have shared 3 options for how you might start keeping a gratitude journal, you may want to try one or all three.  Again, this is about you trusting yourself to choose a way that works for you and remembering this isn’t something you can do wrong.  Try it for the next month and then take time to reflect on what differences you notice in yourself.