What is gratitude and why is it important? Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, the readiness to show appreciation for something and to return the kindness. Gratitude is considered a positive emotion and it is about focusing on what is good in your life and being thankful and appreciative of those good things. Gratitude is noticing the positive things in your life. You know the stuff that we tend to take for granted. Gratitude is about reflecting on how fortunate you are and paying attention to the goods things that are happening around you.
Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation. Lots of words can be used show that you are feeling gratitude. Some of those words include thankful, appreciate, fortunate, and blessed. When you feel thankful or appreciate something you are expressing your gratitude. Gratitude feels good and is good for us. Gratitude is just one positive emotion that you can feel on a regular basis. Positive emotions are good for your overall well-being.
Focus on the positive aspects of life.
So, now that you know what gratitude is, let’s review why it is important to your well-being. Practicing gratitude helps you focus on the positive aspects of your life. Gratitude makes life easy and uncomplicated. When you focus on things that you are grateful for, you focus your attention on the positive aspects of life. Gratitude helps you maintain and build strong healthy relationships and gratitude helps foster hope, understanding, and makes life satisfying.
Gratitude is linked to well-being. Gratitude has been researched enough to consistently show just how having an attitude of gratitude adds benefits to your life. People who experience gratitude are more likely to return the favor. Extending thanks to others is a great way to benefit yourself. There is never too much gratitude to go around.
The benefits of gratitude include:
- Being happy
- Feeling positive emotions
- Enjoying good experiences
- Improvement in overall health
- Better able to handle adversity
- Building of strong, healthy relationships
- Improving your relationships is a huge benefit of expressing gratitude!
Benefits of Gratitude
Gratitude is a great way for you to appreciate what you have and being mindful of the many beautiful things that you have around you now. Noticing good things, will make you feel happier, satisfied, and just plain good. You can show gratitude with these simple ways:
- Write a thank you letter or email. People are thrilled to get an appreciative email that expresses your enjoyment and appreciation of what you experienced.
- Think “thank you “in your head. Just walking around through your day and saying thank you for this or that is enough to get you appreciating what is around you.
- Start a gratitude journal. Yes, journaling is fun and rewarding, especially when you are using your journal to write about how good things are.
- Count your blessings and pray. If you are religious this may come easy but if you are not affiliated or experienced with saying a prayer of gratitude, then just say “thank you”. Thank you is the simplest and easiest pray around to use and remember.
- Notice things without judgment. Focus on the world around you and notice the good things without name or blame. Just notice how you feel when you look at something pleasant.
Gratitude has endless benefits. Gratitude is one of the keys to a happy and satisfying life. Expressing gratitude is an easy choice to feel good about the life that you have. Start noticing how your life will drastically improve once you begin to experience gratitude. Gratitude, appreciation, happiness, joy, all positive emotions, so why not choose gratitude and choose to feel good. For more information on mental health and wellness contact Sobair Professional Counseling and Coaching for expert results.