With thanksgiving this week (although unfortunately we don’t celebrate it in Australia), we thought what better topic to cover than “the attitude of gratitude”. Being grateful is so much more than just a mindset and can have massive effects on health and wellbeing. So keep reading as we discuss why it’s worth giving a go, how to prioritise gratitude and the amazing benefits it has for your health!
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is being grateful and appreciative of the things you have, environment and people surrounding you and anything in your life or about yourself. According to the Oxford languages, gratitude can be defined as “ the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness”.
Why be grateful?
Being grateful really changes your perspective on life and how you feel about your day. Practising gratitude helps to stay in the present moment and increases mindfulness. It increases happiness, improves mood and motivation and has amazing benefits for health and wellbeing. Being grateful helps you to appreciate where you are at and everything that you have, this can have a positive impact on all facets of life including relationships, work and success.
How to add gratitude into your mindset
Adding gratitude into your daily mindset doesn’t need to be hard or complicated, it can be as simple as thinking of 1 thing that you are grateful for each day. Some people write daily gratitude lists or journals about what they are grateful for, while others share what they are grateful for at the dinner table. Taking time to have that conscious thought of thinking about something that you are grateful for, no matter how small or insignificant, is enough to change your perspective and thought pattern.
The benefits
Practising gratitude has so many more benefits than you may think, here are some of our favourite ones:
- Improve sleep, mood and immunity
- Help to decrease depression, anxiety and stress
- Decrease chronic pain and risk of developing diseases
- Increases happiness and quality of life
- Strengthens relationships
- Helps to cope with adversity
- Supports heart health
(UCLA Health, 2023)
Great idea
There really are no downsides to changing your mindset to one of gratitude, so it really is a great idea to give it a try. Even if you start small with just one grateful thought a day, it’s amazing to see the butterfly effect that this can take on every part of your life. Remember, health isn’t just about what we physically eat and do, but is hugely impacted by what we feed our minds too!
ReferencesUCLA Health, (2023). Health benefits of gratitude, accessed on 19/10/2023, <https://www.uclahealth.org/news/health-benefits-gratitude>
