If you do something long enough, it becomes a habit. So why not use this to our advantage and make a practice of thinking and acting in ways that will help us in our lives? Let’s make gratitude a habit by practicing it every day until it becomes our habit.
Every day think of the things you are grateful for. Write a few of them down. Really think about this whole “grateful” thing, and focus on things you may have been taking for granted. Has your child been doing well at school? Are you able to read this article? Did a loved one recover from an illness? Do you have a home?
Whatever your gratitude list is, write a few of them down every night. It may even be helpful to use the artistic part of your mind and make a collage of all the things you can be grateful for in your life. Use old magazines and poster board. Have some fun and be grateful for it.
Throughout the day, keep an inventory of the things you can be grateful for even during the more mundane or unpleasant parts of daily life. These can even be the smallest things that you have gratitude for. As long as you recognize them throughout the day.
Try this for a month. You’ll start to notice a habit forming. A habit of gratitude that will help you throughout your life to focus on the positive for a lifetime.
In life we will find that it’s not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us happy.
Excellent idea for fostering gratitude. I tend to forget the small things that I really should be happy about. God has certainly blessed me, even if I forget to recognize it.
I think it would be a good idea to start a gratitude journal.
Grateful for the article;)
Seriously – I do need to start forming this “gratefulness” as a habit and not just an occasional passing thought (or forced thought). I’ve noticed the times I focus on gratitude that I feel better no matter how much garbage is going on.
Attitude is everything. And being grateful is an attitude to be sure.
Glad to see you have Fr. Sam’s videos on the site. I was wondering what ever happened to him.
Thanks to God for all the people who write “Thank You” notes. I love receiving them, as do many of those who do receive them.
Any form of gratitude is always welcomed.
Thanks for letting this be posted.
May gratitude be a lovely contagion of happiness among all parties.
I am grateful for so many thngs and I remember to be grateful just about every day. If a decade ago you thought you were going to die in that year and today you are alive you cannot gelp but be grateful. But more – I am grateful for my husband (dcd) and all that he did for me, to my children for being wonderful, to my friends for same, to my relatives who are my friends, to people who help me as their profession (carpenter, plumber, tree man, lawnmower, snowplower, and all others who make my life possible, and to God for giving me so much to be grateful for. Not hard to be grateful at all!
A truely blessed article, that would foster the love of God if used daily. A daily journal would be a good thing to use and also how God speaks to your heart, which sometimes we miss or don’t realize is what is happening.
Writing down daily “gratitudes” is a wonderful habit. I was treated for clinical depression at a mood clinic that encouraged patients to do so as part of treatment. It was the best technique I ever learned to fight depression. Over time, it becomes a habit to focus on the positives of life.
Am Grateful for all the articles submitted on the catholic on-line esp Living faith, also very grateful for this one sacrament-reconciliation.
Great idea. I give my gratitude to God in my prayers daily for all his blessings. It always gives me a sense of forgiveness.