How to Practise Gratitude in the Morning: 19 Tips to Start Practising Gratitude Daily
“Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity...it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Practising gratitude is one of the simplest, quickest, and most effective ways of transforming your life for good. It costs nothing but can bring you all that you want from life.
Apart from giving you your material desires, it can enrich your life in so many other ways, from emotional well-being to healthier relationships to an overall feeling of satisfaction and abundance.
Practising gratitude can lift your spirit when you are feeling depressed, can make you appreciate what you have even when you really need things to improve and can turn you from someone who sees life through the lens of the glass being half empty to one that only ever sees life as abundant and fulfilling.
Granted many people may read the above and think…..” How can being grateful possibly deliver in all those ways?” True, on first reading, it can seem that the simple act of thanks is far too well simple…..but below are the ways that being grateful and developing a morning gratitude practice can start to transform your life instantly.
“The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now.”
Why practice Gratitude?
Over the last few years, more and more people have been looking for other ways to live. There has been a move away from the more Western idea of living and people have sought another route to finding happiness and contentment.
Self-help guides and positive thinking schools of thought have long since advocated the principle that gratitude can get you to where you want to be but many people have been sceptical of this assumed panacea that can cure everybody’s problems. It’s true that simply saying “thank you” and feeling grateful is not instantly going to right all of the wrongs that you perceive but by practising gratitude daily you can start to develop long-lasting habits that can help you have a happy, abundant life.
Health benefits of gratitude
Gratitude has many beneficial results that all help a person to live a healthy, happy fulfilled life. Many studies have been carried out on the effects that giving thanks and being grateful can have on our lives. Gratitude is a predictor of well-being.
The higher the levels of gratitude that people display, the higher the levels of well-being. Gratitude has been shown to decrease worry, improve a person’s body image, and help with sleep, it has been shown to foster positive emotions, deal with adversity and improve an individual’s overall good health as well as help to build strong relationships and positive self-confidence.
Daily gratitude can lead to an individual being less materialistic which can, in turn, prevent burnout and associated stress-related conditions. There is far greater overall life satisfaction to be had and greater enhanced peace of mind.
“For years I have advocated keeping a gratitude journal, writing down five things every day that brought pleasure and gratefulness. ”
How to practice gratitude daily
19 Simple ways to start your morning gratitude practice
The simple act of expressing gratitude can have a profound effect on our lives. Practising these simple steps each morning can help you to start your day in the most grateful way possible;
Choose the same time each day
Practising gratitude at the same time each day is the most effective way for it to quickly become a good habit. Starting in the morning is the best time as it will set you up in the best way possible for the day ahead.
Start small
When you first start practising gratitude start small, think of all the small, everyday items that you have in your life to be grateful for. If this is a new concept to you then don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking of too many things all at once.
Firstly, think of your morning routine and all that you have to be grateful for; waking from a good night’s sleep in a comfortable bed, having a hot shower, getting dressed in clean comfortable clothes, eating a good breakfast before you go to work.
Even these small things can amount to a large sum to be grateful for and can highlight just how much you do have in your life to give thanks for.
Use a gratitude journal
Writing down three things every day in a gratitude journal is a very simple but effective way of showing you all of the things that you have in your life that are good and that you can give thanks for. Each day’s list of three items will quickly grow and the more that you write down the more you will discover that you have to write down, soon you will be seeing things to be grateful for everywhere you look.
Fill a Gratitude Jar
The gratitude jar is the same idea as a gratitude journal. Find a really lovely jar that you will want to have on display and each morning on some paper write down three things that you are grateful for that day and pop them into your gratitude jar and watch as over the weeks it begins to fill up with all the things that you have in your life that you are grateful for.
Meditate on your gratitude
Each morning start your day by meditating on all that you have to be grateful for. This is an excellent way to make sure that your day begins in the best way possible. Find a quiet place to sit and meditate for ideally 20 minutes but even 10 can make a huge difference to the way that you will feel. It is well worth getting up 20 minutes early to fit this practice into your morning routine and the results can be felt almost instantly.
By the end of one month, you should find that this practice has become an important part of your daily routine and one that serves you very well.
“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”
6. Take gratitude walks
A gratitude walk is walking with a calm mind and a sense of mindfulness. When you walk with gratitude, you will be focusing on the present moment and feeling grateful for all that you have in life. You will find that you notice everything that is in your environment, the sights, sounds and smells that are all around you. This level of observation can make you feel very happy and grateful for all that you have.
7. Be grateful for your food
Food is something that so many of us take for granted. We feel hungry so we go into our kitchen to get something to eat. But if you ever stopped to really appreciate the journey that your food has taken it would be something that you would be immensely grateful for.
Think about all the people who were involved, from farmers, pickers, delivery drivers and supermarket staff. Then think about how many other people would do anything to be able to have easy access to fresh, healthy food. Finally think about how the food that you consume keeps you alive, fit and healthy. All reasons to be grateful daily for the food that you have.
8. Be grateful for the people around you
As humans, there are many things that we need in life. Some are basic for our survival, such as water and food. Others are there to make our lives better such as heat, transport and money.
Most of the things that we have around us, that we need to live and to make our lives better physically serve us. We also need emotional support and for that, we need the people around us.
Every day, we should be grateful for the network of people we have who make our lives better support us through love and friendship and go on our journey through life with us.
9. Let people know how grateful you are for them
As a follow-on from the last point, let the people you are lucky enough to have around you know how grateful you are for their presence. Tell them as often as you can or show it in other ways.
10. Think of 3 things to be grateful for when you wake up
Instead of just waking up and getting out of bed, take time before you rise to think of three things to be grateful for. It could be the bed that you slept in, the warm room that you are in or the person who is lying beside you.
Starting your day like this is a powerful intention for the rest of your day, to see everything in life that you are grateful for.
11. Give yourself visual triggers for gratitude
Sometimes we may have the best of intentions to practice gratitude but until it becomes a well-practised habit, we can forget. Until it becomes second nature to your morning routine, set yourself visual triggers.
They can be anything you choose, as long as they are something that is going to prompt your grateful thoughts. It could be your feet as you get out of bed, reminding you how grateful you are for your mobility or your bathroom taps reminding you how grateful you are to have clean running water.
12. Be grateful using the words you speak
Practice being grateful in the words that you speak. Try and cut out words of negation and instead fill your sentences with words that demonstrate how grateful you are for all that you have in life.
When you are grateful, you will use positive, optimistic language.
13. Practise really feeling the gratitude
Practise really feeling gratitude. When you have a grateful thought, sit with it for a moment and really experience how the emotion feels in your body.
Are you happy, excited, or motivated? The more you experience the feeling the more potent the thought of gratitude will become.
14. Use the creative power of your mind to find gratitude in your life
If you are someone who often sees their glass half empty, or who struggles in finding things in life to be grateful for, then start using a little creativity to discover what you have to be grateful for. Start off by being grateful for the little things in your life. Even something you see as mundane can be something to be grateful for. Think about a door knob, it may seem insignificant and is something that you would never put on a gratitude list, but imagine how difficult it would be getting in and out of a room without them.
15. Use the power of comparison to be grateful for what you have today
So often we look at our lives from a “lack” perspective. We see people who we perceive have more than us and believe that we have nothing to be grateful for. But if you were to compare your life to somebody else, you would instantly find a whole list of things to be grateful for.
16. Be grateful for the challenges of the day
Instead of seeing challenges as something to complain about, use them as a way to be grateful. If your shopping bags are heavy, don’t complain about having to carry them, instead be grateful for all of the food that is inside them.
If you are stuck in a traffic jam, don’t moan about all the traffic, be grateful that you have a car to drive.
17. Revel in the good times
Life passes by so quickly, that we can miss so many of the good times because we are always thinking about the future. When the good times are with you, revel in them. Soak up every last moment and treasure the memories.
There will be bad days in your future, as well as good, so when the good times are here make sure that you are grateful for them.
18. Develop empathy for other people and become less self-focused
When you stop thinking about yourself and start showing empathy for other people, you will often find many things in your life to be grateful for.
We can so often be so self-absorbed that we don’t notice how other people are struggling. Seeing life through their eyes can be the simplest way of demonstrating all that you have in life.
19. Show gratitude towards yourself
Be grateful for YOU! Everything that you are, all that you contribute to your life and the lives of people around you. Be grateful for all of your wonderful qualities and gifts.
Final Thoughts
Setting out a daily practice of gratitude could be one of the most important routines that you do. Gratitude makes us mentally fitter, happier and healthier.
It also makes us physically healthier. It affects all of the relationships we have in life, from the ones that we have with ourselves, to our family, friends and work colleagues.
Once you start this daily morning ritual, you will quickly discover all of the amazing benefits it gives you from feeling happier and more contented to craving fewer material possessions, getting fitter and healthier and enjoying your life far more.
Start your gratitude practice today and discover for yourself the benefits that this amazing routine will bring you.
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