Want to develop an attitude of gratitude? Know that practising gratitude is a great habit to develop but not sure how to do it? Keep on reading as you’ll find out how to develop an attitude of gratitude.
When successful people are asked about their habits a very common one is practising gratitude. Now for some having an attitude of gratitude comes naturally, but for many, it takes active effort. The key is to find ways to start practising gratitude on a daily basis until it then becomes a normal part of life and you’ll be classed as someone who constantly has an attitude of gratitude.
Here are 6 different ways to approach developing an attitude of gratitude.
Journal
A very common way to develop an attitude of gratitude is through journalling. Journalling is a great habit anyway and combining it with practising gratitude makes it even more powerful. You can decide to journal in the morning, at night or both.
Also, you can decide to have a journal just for gratitude or including gratitude in your normal journal.
If you don’t already have a journalling routine then check out Journalling for Success. You’ll find 4 prompts (one of them is gratitude) to help you develop a morning journalling practice that sets you up for success.
Ask yourself at dinner
When trying to develop an attitude of gratitude it is great to develop cues that already exist in your life. A great way to practice gratitude that can involve other people is to ask yourself at dinner “What has happened today that I’m grateful for?”. This will actively force you to reflect on your day and also ensure that you don’t get into a habit of saying you are grateful for the same things, but try to force yourself to think of something new that specifically happened that day.
Think about all of the things you take for granted
One of the reasons that practising gratitude is so powerful is because it gets us to focus on how our lives are so great. This puts us in a positive state, which is a great state to work from.
When people first start practising gratitude it is easy to think about the big things in your life. I like to encourage people to also think about all the little things they take for granted such as running water, food in the fridge, a roof over their head. Thinking about all these things helps to remind you that you have it so much better than so many other people and no matter what may go wrong in your day there is still so much to be thankful for.
Create an “I am grateful for X” prompt
I’m a big fan of having prompts to help keep things top of mind. Think about a place where you can put an “I am grateful for X” prompt. Popular choices are on your bathroom mirror, on your fridge door, the screensaver on your phone or computer. If you have a vision board that you look at daily you could pin it to there. Again the focus is putting the prompt somewhere that you usually look on a daily basis.
Have a gratitude jar
A gratitude jar is a great way to develop an attitude of gratitude for two reasons. Firstly, you practice gratitude when you take a piece of paper, write what you are grateful for on it and place it in the jar. Then if you are having a day when you are struggling to feel grateful then you can open the jar, pull out some notes and read the reasons why you have been grateful in the past. This acts as a great reminder to show that even if you are struggling today there are so many things you have been grateful for in the past, that you probably could still be grateful for today.
Tell someone how grateful you are for them
Whilst developing an attitude of gratitude is a personal thing there is no reason why you can’t share the love at the same time. Having the right people around us is so important for our happiness and success, but often we can take them for granted. Think about the people in your life that you are grateful for and then let them know next time you see them or why not take action now by giving them a call or sending them a message.
