Practicing gratitude is one of the most important things you can do on a daily basis. It encourages you to look at the small things in your life and feel happiness and gratefulness for everything you have. It urges you to be thankful for the day-to-day things we often take for granted and has also been shown to boost your health in a number of ways. It improves your physical and mental health, boosts your self esteem, improves sleep, decreases stress, and so much more. Take a look at gratitude activities for kids and adults you can start incorporating into your routine.
What Does It Mean to Practice Gratitude?
Gratitude is one of the most beneficial practices you can add to your daily routine. To practice gratitude means to acknowledge the things that are going well in your life. Whether those things are big or small, gratitude turns what we have into enough, and forces us to reflect and be thankful for our current circumstances. Life is rarely perfect, but focusing all your energy on things that are going poorly in your life can create more negativity in your like. Gratitude helps you focus on the positive aspects of your life and turns whatever you have into abundance.
10 Benefits of Practicing Gratitude
1. Improves self esteem
2. Makes you feel happier and more positive
3. Improves your mental health
4. Helps you deal with adversity and become more resilient
5. Builds stronger relationships
6. Lowers stress and anxiety
7. Boosts the immune system
8. Improves quality of sleep
9. Increases your drive to exercise
10. Improves overall physical health
3 Ways to Add Gratitude to Your Routine
1. Get a Planner with Gratitude Prompts
If you’re someone who uses a paper planner to schedule out your day, look for one that has a gratitude prompt. This way every morning when you open up your planner, you’re reminded to write down a gratitude list. The fact that it’s right there in your face will remind you to start your day grounded and grateful.
2. Try a Gratitude Journal
The 5 Minute Gratitude Journal is a journal you fill out every day and night to inspire thankfulness, mindfulness, positivity, productivity and self care. It only takes 5 minutes and will help you develop a grateful attitude toward life. It features a morning routine section and evening routine section, and provides you weekly challenges like “call or see a family member you’ve been meaning to see” to help enhance your life.
3. Create a Gratitude Ritual
Create a ritual that works with your daily schedule. Maybe you find it easiest to write in a gratitude journal with your morning coffee, or perhaps you’d rather do a gratitude meditation right before bed. Some people like to list out things they’re grateful for before eating a meal. Find whatever works best for you and implement it daily.
4 Gratitude Activities for Kids
1. Gratitude Jar
A gratitude jar is a fun daily activity you can do with your kids. You’ll need a decent size jar and you can get your kids to help you decorate it with stickers, ribbon, glitter and whatever else you’d like to decorate with. Every day, think of 3 things you’re grateful for, write them on little slips of paper and add them to the jar. Over time, the jar will be full of things your family is grateful for, and if anyone is feeling down or needs a pick-me-up, they can reach into the jar and read some of the notes.
2. Gratitude Prompts
Gratitude prompts are excellent for kids as they may sometimes find it difficult to think of thing they’e grateful for on their own. Have them pick out a notebook they can use as their gratitude notebook and write down prompts for them to fill in. These could include:
I’m grateful for these 3 friends:
I’m grateful for these 3 things we do on the weekends:
I’m grateful to learn about these 3 things in school:
I’m grateful for these 3 family members:
I’m grateful for my favourite 3 meals:
It’s a simple exercise that will get your kids thinking about what they’re grateful for on a daily basis.
3. Gratitude Through Art
If your kids love to paint or draw, break out the art supplies and ask them to draw a friend or someone from school who showed them friendliness or caring. Art is a form of expression for kids and this can open up a conversation about their feelings and what they’re grateful for.
4. Dinnertime Gratitude
When dinner time rolls around, go around the table and have everyone say something awesome that happened that day, something they’re grateful for, or one nice thing they’ll do for someone this week. This will help make gratitude a daily ritual that gets everyone thinking positively.
4 Gratitude Activities for Adults
1. Gratitude Journaling
Writing down a few things you’re grateful for everyday is one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do. Reflect on the past day or week, and note down 3-10 things you’re grateful for.
Try to dig deep and get specific with this. For example, let’s say you’re feeling grateful for your friends and family. Instead of just writing down “I am grateful for friends and family”, try something like “I’m grateful I live so close to my parents so I can go visit them whenever I want”, or “I’m grateful my friend invited me over for dinner so I didn’t have to cook after a long day”.
2. Gratitude Meditation
Gratitude meditations are super effective and very impactful. During your meditation, visualize all the things in your life that you’re grateful for, from people to physical objects to simple things we often take for granted like sleeping in a warm bed or the ability to walk and move around. Meditation and gratitude are important on their own, but together they’re very powerful.
3. Gratitude Vision Board
Find pictures of all the things you’re grateful for (these could be your own photos you’ve taken or photos from a magazine or Pinterest). Create a collage so you can visualize your gratitude on a daily basis. These may be pictures of loved ones, places you’ve visited or are going to visit, your pet, your hobbies, your favourite restaurants, or whatever makes you happy.
4. Gratitude Letter
Write a hand-written letter to express your gratitude for someone special in your life. Let them know how much you appreciate them and give your reasons why. They may or may not know how much they mean to you, but this letter is sure to fill them up. Sign off with a sincere thank you. This gratitude activity will benefit both you and the person you’re giving it too.
Practicing gratitude is one of the most beneficial things you can do to feel better mentally and physically. Try these activities to boost your health.
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