Originally posted 12/2/22

As we will have just celebrated Thanksgiving, I think about how important a consistent practice of Gratitude is; to our lives and those around us. In the immediate, a gratitude practice can change how we see everything. I’m hearing many people who have a daily gratitude practice say that they often seek, in their day, who or what to be grateful for. Always looking for what to be grateful for sounds nice, but this practice has many more benefits that reach much further than just that.

Contentment:

“Gratitude turns what we have into enough.”

- Unknown author

This anonymous quote says something so powerful about one of the benefits of gratitude. Perhaps this is how you live, content with what you have. Still, as the mass epidemic of consumption and consumerism has been running rampant, the idea that a gratitude practice could change how you look at your life and your ‘stuff’ and create a sense of contentment is almost magical.

Joy:

“It’s not Joy that makes us grateful, its gratitude that makes us Joyful.” - Jesuit Priest.

I found this quote in this interview with Brene Brown. I don’t know about you, but I don’t wake up every morning feeling joyful. I don’t think my life reflects joyfulness, but why can’t it? If the experts say that having an active practice of gratitude creates peace, joy, and contentment, why wouldn’t we want a life like that?

In looking for other benefits of having a gratitude practice, I found this beautiful article from Intelligent Change, an online marketplace for all things to help support a thoughtful and grateful life. Titled “10 Benefits of Gratitude,” It breaks up the benefits of gratitude into multiple categories.

• Personal benefits of gratitude;

• Emotional benefits of gratitude;

• Social benefits of gratitude;

• Career-related benefits of gratitude;

• Health benefits of gratitude;

Please read the article to get more information about each of the 10 benefits, and I will outline them here.

Personal Benefits of Gratitude:

1. Gratitude makes you optimistic and giving

2. Gratitude reduces materialism. We talked about that at the beginning of this post.

Emotional Benefits of Gratitude:

1. Happiness and Resilience. If you are always looking for something to be grateful for, that can create a happy life.

2. Overall psychological well-being.

Social Benefits of Gratitude:

1. Gratitude improves our relationships.

2. Gratitude increases social support.

Career-Related Benefits of Gratitude:

1. Gratitude improves work performance.

2. Gratitude improves work satisfaction.

Health Benefits of Gratitude:

1. Gratitude improves mental health.

2. Gratitude improves physical health.

It all sounds great, but what is a gratitude practice, and how do you develop one? That is a fair question and one I asked myself. From my research and experience, gratitude is simply the practice of expressing gratitude daily. That's not just saying thank you; it is doing intentional things that express gratitude for the experiences and people in our lives.

Some of the things you can do to create a gratitude practice include;

• Keeping a gratitude journal. You can do this on your own, with your gratitude prompts, or use a journal that gives you prompts, especially if you’re new to this. The 5-minute journal gives you daily prompts to think about what you're grateful for and write it down.

• Direct Communication: This step is where you reach outside and express gratitude to others. This could be a text message or handwritten note. One of my practices is writing a physical thank you note to one person every day. There are days I miss this, but it's an important part of my gratitude practice.

Practicing gratitude has no downside; it benefits us in many ways and undoubtedly benefits those around us. With the new year coming, do you think adding a gratitude practice to your new year goals is something you would consider? Consider how big of an impact that practice can have on the rest of your life.

I hope you have found this information helpful, and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. You can email me at jcooper@jkcmobilenotary.com or text/ call at 559-212-4706.

Until Next Time-

Jennifer Cooper- JKC Mobile Notary