You can’t open a magazine or go to a ‘wellbeing’ talk without the idea of practicing gratitude being mentioned, and while it sounds a bit woo-woo there’s an increasing body of literature that supports the idea that being thankful is really good for us.

In their 2010 paper Wood, Froh and Geraghty (2010) ‘review … the burgeoning literature on gratitude and well-being, and … the potential of interventions to increase gratitude as a way of increasing well-being and improving disorder’ (2) and their findings are fascinating. Wood et al. suggest that there’s a strong relationship between gratitude and wellbeing and that this link might be both unique and causal. How cool is that?!

What’s also cool is that practicing gratitude is totally free! OK, it’s not always easy, but it is free and free is always worth taking a risk on and trying. You never know, it might change your life!

One of the easiest ways to practice gratitude is by journaling or listing what you’re grateful for. It’s quick and easy, you don’t need anything fancy and it can quickly become something really enjoyable that has an amazing impact on your life. Here’s my advice for how to start a gratitude journal.

Decide on your medium

Although you can get all sorts of fancy journals with prompts to help you workout what you’re grateful for you don’t really need them. All you need is a pen and paper or the notes section of your phone. You can choose whether you date your entries or not, what’s important is you get something down on paper (or on screen). Some people like to use social media and that’s cool too, sharing what you’re grateful for on Instagram or Twitter can be a useful way to stay accountable, but make sure you know why you’re doing it (i.e. not for the dopamine hit!).

Don’t overcomplicate things

To see the benefits of practicing gratitude you need to make it a habit, and that is way easier to do when you keep things simple. It can be so tempting to think you need to make a huge deal out of practicing gratitude, but you don’t need to. So rather than trying to think of 10 things you’re grateful for every day and then explaining why, start with just one thing. If more things come to mind that’s cool, but one is enough.

Make it a non-negotiable

It’s not always easy to form habits but to get the most out of practicing gratitude it kind of needs to become a habit. My advice is to make it a non-negotiable. Set an alarm on your phone and when it goes off take a minute - just 60 seconds - to jot down what you’re grateful for. Quick and dirty, but effective.

Remember your why

Everything in life is easier when you remember why you’re doing it. Keeping in mind that there’s research suggesting that practicing gratitude can help improve your wellbeing could be a helpful motivator on the days when you’re not sure if you have the time or energy.

I really believe in the power of practicing gratitude. It’s one of the few stereotypically ‘wellness’ tools I suggest to all of my clients and that’s because I’ve seen it make a difference in their lives and my own. Give it a go for a few weeks, and let me know how you get on.

References:

Wood, A. M., et al., Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration, Clinical Psychology Review (2010), doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2010.03.005