7 Tips For Developing a Consistent Gratitude Practice

Gratitude is one of the simplest, most profound, easily accessible forms of medicine available, and you can do it any time and any place.

Research shows that a consistent gratitude practice is associated with a long list of health benefits.

I have had a daily gratitude practice for over 10 years.

Here are 7 tips for cultivating a consistent gratitude practice:

(1) Habit Stacking

Habit stacking is a technique in which you anchor one practice to something you already do. Pair your gratitude practice with an established and consistent part of your routine.

The practice of saying grace before a meal is a perfect example of gratitude practice tied to an activity. But you don’t need to limit yourself to meals. For example, you can sprinkle moments of gratitude while brushing your teeth, on your morning commute, or each time you get into your car.

(2) Make It Sensory and Specific

Tangible details activate the parts of the brain linked to emotional regulation and reward. Instead of “I’m grateful for my health,” try “I’m grateful for my strong legs” or “I’m grateful for my resilient heart.”

Instead of being grateful for your food, name the food, the flavors, and the textures.

If you’re feeling appreciative of a specific person, name something specific about them that you appreciate. For example, “I appreciate how Sue always finds a way to make me laugh.”

(3) Speak or Share It Out Loud

Expressing gratitude to another person works on multiple levels:

• you strengthen your gratitude muscle
• the other person gets to receive your gratitude, which makes them feel good, and
• you get to feel good about making them feel good.

Biologically, expressing gratitude out loud to someone else increases oxytocin, the hormone that fosters connection and trust.

Even speaking your gratitude out loud to yourself can help you deepen your connection to your gratitude.

(4) Put It In Writing

In a study of people with asymptomatic heart failure, patients were asked to write down 2–3 things they were grateful for every day for 8 weeks.

At the end of the study, patients who had kept the journals had lower inflammation levels in their bodies than patients who didn’t keep a journal. They also had an increase in heart rate variability, another measure of good heart health.

While you can keep a digital journal, the somatic practice of actually writing your gratitude — by hand, with pen on paper —helps deepen the neurological wiring of gratitude.

(5) Find Micro-Moments of Gratitude

When you train yourself to feel into moments of gratitude throughout your day, you start to notice all the little things about life that you might otherwise miss:

Catching all the green lights on your commute. Getting a parking spot easily. The person who held the door for you on your way into the store. The ease with which you handled a task. Feeling the warmth of the sun on your face.

The more you can find these micro-moments, especially during otherwise hard days, the more you will naturally orient toward them, which will strengthen your resilience.

(6) End Your Day With Gratitude

Gratitude can help lower your cortisol levels and trigger your parasympathetic nervous system, which is the rest and digest response. Prime yourself for a good nights sleep by writing down 3 things that went well during your day or 3 things you’re grateful for. This will help your nervous system find a sense of safety that enables it to rest.

(7) Start Your Day With Gratitude

The first moments of your day set the tone for everything that follows.

In the Jewish tradition, the first thing a person is supposed to to on waking is to say a prayer of thanks to God for essentially allowing us to wake up in the morning.

It can be easy to lose sight of gratitude when you oversleep, wake up running late, and immediately get caught in the rush of your morning routine.

Starting your day with gratitude merely for being alive, awake, and able to get out of bed helps you start your day with intention and a grateful outlook, instead of in reaction to whatever external stimulus is in your environment.