Why Is Gratitude So Important?

I think we all know we should be grateful, but it can sometimes be easy to overlook all the things we should be grateful for. Especially when life gets hard, or super busy, or stressful, or anything else that can shift our perspective from one of gratitude, and maybe even shifting our focus from what we have to what we lack. I know I sometimes get in this gratitude slump, especially during tough times, but I’ve found through experience that being grateful, even for the tiniest things, makes a huge, positive impact on my life.

Research has proven how important it is to be grateful, so it’s not just a nice thing to add to your to-do list. Check out these benefits from simply showing gratitude for both big and small things:

Sleep better
Improved immune system
Better mood
Increased happiness
Stronger relationships¹
Decreased depression and anxiety
Lower risk of disease
Increased empathy for others²
Decreased feeling of resentment, regret, frustration, and envy²
Decreased levels of chronic pain
Better self-esteem²
Deal better with difficult things¹

Here’s what I’ve discovered about gratitude…

To get the greatest benefits from being grateful, keeping track of what you’re grateful for in some form pretty much needs to be a daily practice. I’ve tried sticking to a daily gratitude practice in the past, and it just didn’t work for whatever reasons. I’ve tried writing down what I’m grateful for from the day before the next morning, thinking that would be a great way to start the day, which makes sense. But it just didn’t work for me. Often, I couldn’t remember what I meant to write down.

836 days ago, I started a new gratitude practice at night right before going to bed. I found a journal that just made me feel giddy and that meant something to me, and I followed a suggestion by one of my favorite authors, Greg McKeown, to set a lower limit for this habit I wanted to create, a lower limit so low that I could nail this habit every single day.

My lower limit is to write down 5 things I’m grateful for and 1 sentence about the day. Yes, I can write more, but that is my lower limit. If I do that, my habit is done for the day.

My first streak ended on day 42. For whatever reason, I got out of my routine, and I totally forgot. But…unlike in the past, I got right back on this habit the very next day. And tonight will be day #794 of this habit!

Here are some things I’ve learned about the importance of being grateful, recording what I’m grateful for, how to be more grateful, and how to make a daily gratitude practice more doable. Because if I can do this, anyone can do it! My gratitude practice seriously takes a couple of minutes a day, and the benefits are pretty much priceless to me!

I notice more things to be grateful for. When I know I’m going to be writing down things I’m grateful for every night, I’m more likely to watch for things to be grateful for during the day. I have so many things to be grateful for every day, but when I wasn’t looking for them, I know I often missed and overlooked so many of my blessings, especially the small things.

Feeling grateful makes the hard days easier. Watching for and then writing down even just 5 things I’m grateful for every day has made tough days, weeks, and months easier. I’ve gone through a lot of both happy and hard times since I started this gratitude practice, and when I write down those things I’m grateful for each night, it instantly brings me back to the fact that I really am so, so blessed. If I wasn’t looking for and then recording these things, it would be so much easier to dwell on the hard. It’s like that quote I shared at the top of this post…gratitude unlocks blessings!

Make your gratitude practice work for you. Whether it’s writing down some things you’re grateful for each day, keeping a gratitude journal, adding things you’re grateful for to a board, keeping motivational thoughts about gratitude where you can see them throughout the day, simply noticing things to be grateful for during the day, or any combination of the many ways you can feel grateful, you do you.

Look for the simple things. There are so many things around me every day that I definitely take for granted, but there are things I should be grateful for every single day! Things like…

A sunny day
The cute goats that live in a farm by our house
Dark chocolate
A call or FaceTime from one of our kids or grandsons
The kind store owner who personally delivered a box of gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free chocolate cupcakes (Kam has Celiacs and is also dairy- and egg-free) on a very rough day AND Steven’s (our son-in-law) sister who ordered them clear from New Mexico. #perfecttiming #tendermercy
Getting the very last pharmacy parking spot at Primary Children’s Hospital when I went to pick up a prescription for Braden. That parking garage is usually full at that time of day, and the next closest parking garage isn’t very close.
Getting more work done than I thought I would
A kind text message from a friend
The birds who visit my office window bird feeder
Leftovers for dinner (not having to figure out and then cook dinner!)
Getting errands done faster
A smile from a stranger on a hard day
Something I needed is on sale
Reading the very scripture I needed that day
John doing something kind for me (he does this a lot, and I need to do better at not taking these things for granted)
Finishing a good book
Little tender mercies that I’d miss if I wasn’t watching for them
Getting the last box of bran flakes—I eat bran flakes every morning, so they’re kind of a staple around our house (we were running low, and the stores seem to be running low too)
Lunch with a friend
Little bits of inspiration/promptings throughout the day

Kam’s friend who brought us a “Box of Sunshine” on a day that was really tough for our Braden.
And on, and on, and on…

Say “thank you” more often. When I thank someone for something, I’m also recognizing something to be grateful for, which then gives me access to all those amazing benefits of being grateful. And it can’t help but make the other person feel good too. #winwin

Do something kind for someone else—give them something to be grateful for. Gratitude works both ways. When we do something kind for someone else, it will help them feel better, and it will help us feel better too, which is also something to be grateful for!

Simply being kind comes with some amazing benefits too! Read more here.

Here are some ideas to get you started or on days when you get stuck and can’t think of things to be grateful for. Because that does happen.

What made you smile or laugh today?
What’s one thing about your job that you’re grateful for?
What’s something you get to do every day that you take for granted?
What talents and skills do you have that you’re grateful for?
What’s one thing you crossed off your to-do list today?
What is one basic thing in your life that you often take for granted? Water, electricity, internet, food, etc.
What one small thing you did for yourself today?
Who is one important person you talked to today?
Who is one person you appreciate and why?
What one small step did you take towards a goal today?
What’s an opportunity that you’re grateful for?
What kind thing did someone do for you today?
What kind thing did you do for someone else today?
What lesson did you learn today?
And so on…

Simply being grateful and having an attitude of gratitude really can be life-changing and perspective-changing. And I know that simply being grateful can turn what I already have into more than enough.

What are you grateful for today? Please share it in a comment below.

Sources:
1. https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier
2. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-of-gratitude