How To Start Your Gratitude Practice (Plus My Favourite Prompts To Get Started)
Do you prioritize gratitude in your life? Up until the beginning of this year, I never intentionally did. It was one of those things I had heard experts speak on the benefits of and had an idea about through my upbringing and my faith, but I never intentionally prioritized it in my day every day. I really thought that a general feeling of gratitude through the occasional counting of my blessings was good enough. I definitely would have considered myself a grateful person then, but little did I know that I still had so much growing to do.
It wasn’t until I established a daily gratitude practice that I realized how impactful it is to intentionally seek gratitude in your day. I have now been intentionally making myself aware of the things I have to be grateful for every single day for nearly nine months straight, and I can honestly say that I see a drastic difference in my outlook on life, my peace of mind, and the way I handle particular situations that spring up in my life. In fact, I still remember the moment when I realized that a regular practice of gratitude had shifted something in my brain. I was knee deep into cleaning my shower one day (which just so happens to be my most hated job in the realm of housework) and I felt my internal wheels bubbling as I was grumbling my way through the task. All of a sudden, my mind silenced itself and out of my mouth came the words “Wow, I’m really grateful that I even have a shower to clean.” As soon as I heard the words come out of my mouth, I couldn’t believe I had said them. It didn’t feel like me who did. I realized in that moment that I had literally rewired the neural patterns in my brain to recognize my blessings over my discontentment, even in the middle of an unpleasant situation.
Obviously that is a silly and insignificant example of gratitude in action, but that small moment meant a lot to me. It was a very real example of my hard work and practice (and trust me, it’s called a practice because it definitely takes practice) making very real progress. My life is never going to perfect, I am going to continually face hardships, and I know that I will probably have many situations come up when I feel discontent, but I’m optimistic that despite all that, I am capable of redirecting my thoughts and my heart to a place of gratitude.
So maybe you feel like you could benefit from having your own gratitude practice, but where do you even begin? I have admittedly tried it a time or two myself before it really stuck. I think there are two considerations that you have to take into account before getting started. First of all, you ultimately have to understand what type of practice would work for you depending on your personality, your interests, and your capacity. And second of all, you must truly be ready to commit to it.
What type of practice is good for you?
This is something that you are going to need to determine for yourself. There are many different ways that you can practice gratitude, but what works best for you will likely depend on a few different factors. Your daily gratitude practice can take as much or as little time as you want or can spare. You can opt to do it first thing in the morning, on your lunch break, or before you lay your head down on your pillow at night. It can take on a physical form or can be something you process mentally. You can do it on your own or with a loved one. There is so much option!
I decided to start my own practice with the help of a prompted gratitude journal. The journal (which you can find here) is broken down by week and has six different weekly prompts and one free-writing section. I answer one prompt every night, Monday to Saturday, before I go to bed, and then use the weekly free-writing section on Sunday night to share a little more extensively about my past week as a whole. Each prompt takes about 1-2 minutes to answer and the free-writing section takes me about 10-15 minutes to fill out. I have really connected well with this format because I find that I can focus my thoughts more intentionally if I am actually writing something down and I have been able to keep it up because it only takes me a couple of minutes each day. I also love how the prompts change every single day so that I am always thinking about different aspects of my life (past and present) that I can find gratitude in. But that being said, I’m sure other people would not resonate with this format. That’s totally fine! Your gratitude practice can look however you want it to look. All that matters is that you are putting the intention behind doing it on a daily basis.
Your daily practice could be:
A gratitude meditation
Sharing one thing you were grateful for in your day with your partner
Having a prompt reminder on you mirror to reflect on every morning
Listing out five things you are grateful for at the end of every day
A prompted gratitude journal
An unprompted journal
A daily mantra
A daily alarm on your phone that reminds you to reflect on something you are grateful for in that moment
A meditative gratitude walk every morning
And there are so many more options out there! You can get really creative with your gratitude practice, as long as it feels like something that is possible to do every single day. Being able to establish that sense of repetition and habit is absolutely key. In order to do that, there are a few things you may want to think through before you choose exactly what your practice might look like.
What is your personality? Are you organized and particular or are you free-spirited and active? Understanding the way you naturally operate can really help you determine what type of practice will stick. If you have a drifting free spirit, a daily alarm set up through your phone may help you stay reminded of your gratitude practice, regardless of where your day takes you. If you are more organized and particular, a daily ritual, like a mirror prompt, may be an appealing type of practice to adopt. Try to think through what will feel easy for you to do based on how you operate on auto-pilot.
What are your interests? Do you like exploring outdoors or curling up with a blanket and a cup of coffee at home? Do you like to write or are your a mental processor? Think about what you like to do and how that could be a part of your practice. Maybe incorporating nature into your daily gratitude practice will make it feel extra enticing for you if you like being outside or maybe a journalling practice will be intriguing if you like to physically write things down in order to fully process them in your mind. Your interests will dictate what practice feels the most natural and doable.
What is your capacity? Do you have a job, a spouse, some kids, and a pet that demand your time and attention? Do you have a flexible work schedule? Do you have 2 minutes or 15 minutes to devote to this? If you have a lot going on in your life, try to find a practice that requires very little from you or you may find yourself resenting and neglecting it. If you have a lot of demands on you, you may even be able to find a practice that can combine some of those things. For example, maybe you can set up a daily gratitude practice that involves your kids or your partner and it can become something that you commit to together. Spending two minutes on your gratitude practice is better than no minutes, so be realistic about what your current capacity is and choose a practice that works within that.
Are you ready to commit yourself to it?
Once you determine a type of practice that feels like it would be a good fit, the only other thing you need to think through is whether or not you are truly ready to commit yourself to it. A gratitude practice is only going to be as good as you make it - it ultimately depends on you! I recommend committing to at least a full month of daily practice before writing anything off. But with that being said: the longer, the better. The ultimate goal of daily gratitude is that it becomes a way of life and that requires the commitment to build it into a habit. If the practice you have set out for yourself feels too daunting to do for a year, maybe scale back and find a practice that requires less effort on your part. You can always start small and work up to a practice that is more complex.
I do want to note that although it requires commitment, it doesn’t require perfection. I have definitely missed a few days in my own practice. The important thing is to keep moving forward and recommitting yourself to it. Before long, the practice feels a lot more natural and you will start seeing the benefits of intentional daily gratitude in every area of your life. You can never reach a point of being too grateful.
Regardless of your method, the following are some of my favourite gratitude prompts to get started with. Some of them you can revisit time and time again and some of them will inspire other ideas in you. You are welcome to pick and choose from this list or you can download a free printable version I created so that you can cut them out and post them in your journal or around your home if that feels easier. Feel free to explore what works the best for you.
What period of your life are you most grateful for?
What strengths of yours have benefited you this week?
How can you show gratitude to those in your life?
What has someone done for you this week that meant a lot to you?
Share an experience that has happened to you recently that has made you realize your life is so good.
What made you laugh this week?
What gets in the way of you being grateful?
What is one lesson you know now that you didn’t know last year?
Who has taught you something valuable this week?
What things do you love to do just for you?
What part of your body do you feel grateful for today?
Who in your life inspires you right now?
What words or phrase bring you comfort?
When am I likely to feel ungrateful? How can I change that?
What parts of nature make you feel wonder and gratitude?
What difficulties in your life right now are you learning to be grateful for?
I hope that you found this information insightful to help you get started in your gratitude practice. I am really passionate about this because I am starting to reap the benefits in my own life, so I want to be able to encourage anyone else who may have an interest in it to take the leap. Never hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about it. I’m here cheering you on!
