5 Ways to Make Gratitude a Larger Part of Your Daily Routine

2020 has been a crazy year for most of us. After a recent health scare (not covid) was added to my last month of 2020, I find it more important than ever to include gratitude in my daily practice.

Here are five simple ways that anyone can add a basic gratitude ritual to their day:

1. When you have your first cup of coffee or tea or orange juice, make sure that you have a pen and paper ready to jot down a few things you are grateful for in your life. It can be anything from being grateful for being able to have a healthy breakfast to simply having a new day to wake-up to.

Avoid trying to have a certain number of things to be grateful for, you only need one thing that makes you feel good when you think about it. Some days you'll have a long list and others it might be short, but either way, you'll have something lovely to start every day on, even on a sleepy Monday morning.

2. Spend at least ten minutes a day outside. Not just is it great for your mood to get a little extra vitamin D from the sunlight, but spending a little leisure time out in nature helps you soak in how lucky we are to experience this life. Focus on every little beautiful detail around you. The crisp leaves on the ground and the whistling of the wind. Even if the only thing you can fit in your schedule is a little time on your porch or a walk around the parking lot at work while you're on a break, the fresh air and change of scenery will do you some good.

3. Gently remind yourself that things you regret or wish you had done differently in the past were situations to learn from, not dwell on. Gratitude should never be an excuse to push away bad feelings and regrets. Instead, a grateful mindset can help us recover from bad moments and realize that even though we may not be happy about everything going on around us, we can still be grateful for the lessons we learned along the way and the people that are close to us as we continue to grow.

4. When you're feeling particularly grateful, spread that joy with those around you. Let the people that you are grateful to know how much you appreciate them with a simple phone call or a small gift or kind gesture. Maybe even compliment a stranger so that they might have something small to be grateful for as well. Small acts of kindness can make a real difference in someone's day

5. Before you go to bed make sure to write down at least one thing that happened during that day that you're grateful for. For this one, I think it's easiest to leave a notebook and pen on your nightstand, this way it seems more like a replacement for scrolling on your phone before you fall asleep than a chore. As someone that sometimes gets consumed with my most stressful anxieties when I'm trying to sleep, this is a real game-changer. You'll sleep better too if you're focused on the more lovely and relaxing moments of your day.

I hope you find these helpful! Wishing everyone a happy holiday and an amazing 2021!

Tori

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