How to have an Attitude of Gratitude

How to have an attitude of gratitude. Thanksgiving is around the corner! This is about how to be more grateful, and why you might want to.

Thanksgiving is more than stuffing your face, watching football, and eating pie. It’s also about giving thanks. For goodness sake, it’s in the name! So, why do we celebrate thanks?

George Washington made Thanksgiving a holiday in 1789. It was originally for American settlers to be thankful for the ending of the fighting for our independence from Great Britain. The original feast of native Americans and pilgrims was in 1621. It is acknowledged as the first Thanksgiving celebration. It was not a proclaimed holiday by any governing body a part that is often times overlooked and ignored. Abraham Lincoln made it a holiday celebrated in November at the end of the civil war.

Now that we know why we originally were giving thanks, how does this apply to life now? Gratitude is such an important part of life. Apart that is often times overlooked and ignored. Our culture is all about more, working for more, getting more, having more. The fact is we have enough.

Even without any material things or money, we have enough. We are enough, all by ourselves. Life itself is worth gratitude. When we are reminded of this, we get in the right state of mind.

Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude cannot live in depression or anxiety. So gratitude gives you peace and happiness. Since gratitude helps you have less anxiety and depression, it will give you the health benefits. These include lower blood pressure, a lesser chance of gaining weight, and lower pulse. It also helps with sleep.

With all the personal and physical benefits it also helps with relationships. It helps you be a better parent and partner. Allowing you to see what you have instead of not have, will give you an all-around better attitude. Giving you a longer fuse with your loved ones.

Now that we know all these great benefits of gratitude how do you get an attitude of gratitude? There are a couple of different ways to have an attitude of gratitude…

Ways to Have Gratitude

Reframing

Whenever you start to get mad about a situation in life try to find what you are grateful for in that situation. For example, my child is being rambunctious and obnoxious as all children can be from time to time. I want to scream for everyone to stop what they are doing and leave me alone.

Then I remind myself that children are young for such a little time. I am so proud that they are able to be rambunctious. I am so happy that I am present at this moment to experience the joy of my children. I miss so much with working and them going to school. I should really join in with them, or if I can’t, find another activity for them to do.

Making a list

Another thing I really like to do is make a gratitude list. I have found this makes reframing much easier because your mind is already on what makes you grateful. I have a page in my bullet journal for gratitude that is to be done every night. It doesn’t always happen, but I will just do a couple at a time if I miss.

I try to do a different thing I am grateful for every day of the month. I do repeat some of them in the next month if I run out of things to be grateful for.

Hey, I am only human!

The idea is just to shift your mindset and find something you are grateful for even on those bleak and dreary days. If you aren’t so great with making lists you can buy a journal like this…

Talk about your gratitude.

The same way writing down what you’re grateful for, talking about what you grateful for can do the same thing. In Thanksgivings in the past, my family has gone around the table and talked about what they are thankful for. It was a moment for us to bond and share a part of our personal lives with everyone.

Find others with gratitude.

It is very hard to be grateful when the people around you don’t value it. Negative Nelly’s just produce more negativity, you know the proverbial saying misery loves company. Trying to find people who are also trying to attain gratitude will help your journey. Not only to find it but to also to keep it.

I have found this is very prevalent in 12 step groups. An attitude of gratefulness for sobriety and the gifts given through it are abundant and talked about often. Shifting everyone else around into that mindset, of realizing what our lives were like before and how they are now.

Write a gratitude letter.

I love to do this at Christmas time. Even though I am an atheist I celebrate the winter solstice and love to make and give Christmas or holiday cards. When I am making the cards I send a personalized message in it. Something that talks about how I appreciate them, what they have done for me, how they have helped me over the years or year.

This makes me feel very vulnerable but the reception I have gotten from it has far outweighed my concerns. People are so grateful from my gratitude and in that way strengthens and deepens our relationship.

So with all that said, I hope that you find gratitude and realize that it’s not just something to think about around Thanksgiving. It is something we should be thinking about all year round to help us be more caring, happy, and healthy individuals.

With gratitude, you will see that life is so precious, fleeting, and beautiful. Don’t waste it thinking about what you don’t have, or what will happen in the future. Just be present and see what is right in front of you.

How do you have gratitude? What are you grateful for? Do you practice gratitude year round? Let me know in the comments below!

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