Being Thankful Every Day: Filling Your Gratitude Box All Year

By Laura Holtby

While Thanksgiving and the bulk of major holidays fall around the time of seasonal affect disorder, it’s important to grasp that serotonin early and allow for consistent routines of positive change, healthy habits, and overall good feelings. We start looking back on our year, and, like all humans, we see what we want to change or do better, and begin setting good intentions for the new year. In my own life, when my house is clean and organized, when my kids and family are doing well, and everyone is feeling happy and healthy, and my self-care is on point, it’s easy to fall in love with the things and people around us, and practice gratitude. But on those crummy days (which we are all allowed to have by the way), we might feel bad for ourselves, sense a loss of control of time, money, frustration, people in our lives, or things might just not be going right, it can be much harder to think of what we are grateful for, even for ourselves.

One of the greatest remedies or antidotes for these feelings lies within us, right in our heads. We can easily say “thanks” or “I appreciate you” to show our appreciation to others or to someone who does something for us. It makes us feel good when we are appreciated, and it fills our cup when we dish it out. But there are other things, moments, and people who deserve that positive energy as much as we desire to give it. Think about when the last time was that you practiced gratitude outside of the holidays?

When we challenge ourselves to practice gratitude every day, rather than just around the theme of thankfulness, we fill our box of appreciation. When it becomes a habit, positivity fills the table, our hearts, and our minds. When we make active efforts to retrain our brains and make our feelings known, it not only makes a big difference for ourselves but for everyone around us. The many benefits of practicing gratitude include greater energy, enthusiasm, optimism, empathy, resilience, mindfulness, and happiness. When my kids were very young and I had less time, I vowed to help at a food pantry around the holidays. But I quickly realized that while one day may make a difference, continuing to go back would be even better, and why should it stop there? Gratitude should not be a one-time event tied to a specific time of year.

Here are some simple strategies to start. Try them out, find what you like, and make it part of your day! Once you are in the habit, it easily becomes part of your routine, and can fill your gratitude box all year.

Journaling. One of my favorite practices is the “brain dump.” Remove yourself from all distractions, including your phone and television. Set the timer for five minutes and slowly build up to ten minutes or more. Keep the pen or your fingers moving on the keyboard the whole time, and write whatever comes to mind.

Gratitude jar. A simple way to add gratitude to your day is to take something like a mason jar, even a cup or bowl, and jot down what you are thankful for as you see or feel it, using a few post-its. Or jot three things down before you go to bed. Take out the papers regularly and make it part of a routine, or save them up for a special time to read them. You may remember why you were thankful for something then, which fills your gratitude box up later.

Meditation. This has a major impact on our self-care and overall mental health. Meditation can be a great way to visualize all the things you are grateful for, thus clearing your mind of negative thoughts and energy. Starting in small increments and building up to longer sessions can also create unique pathways that can enhance overall well-being.

Say it out loud! Make a conscious effort to say “thank you,” “I appreciate you/what you have done,” whether it was for you or someone else. Say what you are grateful for in your own life out loud, in the shower, driving in the car, or just while walking into work or the grocery store.

Write, say, or show it to someone else. Thank you cards are an important part of our lives; we often send cards just to let someone know we miss them or are thinking of them. We can easily send a text, message, or video these days, but when we have a birthday party or we receive gifts, we always send a tangible thank-you note to the giver.

In other ways, when you make it a statement outside of these moments by saying or writing to someone, “I’m grateful for you because…” gratitude can allow us to connect to the people we care about much deeper, and shows our appreciation for them, and not just the things they do.

Helping and giving back. This is a big one, and not always the easiest. Giving time can be challenging, but it is always very appreciated. If you can’t make a regular volunteer effort, try doing it as a family, or occasionally with your partner, and I can guarantee you will feel as good about your effort as the organization, person, or event that needed your help.

Spend time in nature. It can be particularly easy to find things we are grateful for in nature. Fresh air, soothing sounds, and feeling the earth under your feet are wonderful ways to connect and find meaning in something we might often take for granted.

Look around the room you are reading this in and find 3-5 things you are grateful for right now. As Oprah Winfrey said, “The single greatest thing you can do to change your life today would be to start being grateful for what you have right now. And the more grateful you are, the more you get.” When gratitude is not required or expected, it can be a beautiful thing.