Gratitude

Developing a gratitude practice can completely change your outlook on life. Practicing gratitude can help  you to experience more positive emotions, spend more time in the moment, improve your health, decrease stress and strengthen relationships. This practice doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time either, just a few minutes each day is a great way to get started. 

Think of three things, right now, that you are grateful for. It could be anything. A cup of coffee, the blue sky, how comfortable your bed is. Or you can think bigger and think about how grateful you are to live in Canada, or to have access to health care or clean water. A mix of big and small ideas can help you to ground yourself in the moment and acknowledge how lucky you are. 

You could simply take the time to list these things in your head, or you could write them down in a notebook or journal. The Five Minute Journal is a gratitude journal which has a great template for practicing gratitude morning and night. You can also get The Five Minute Journal as a phone app, if you’re more of a digital person. I’ve found that having easy access to a journaling app on my phone has been a nice way to remind myself to slow down and practice gratitude. If you are going with a notebook or journal, place it somewhere that will remind you to use it. Maybe that place is by your bed, or maybe where you eat breakfast. Or you could use a pad of sticky notes, and write yourself a little gratitude list to stick somewhere around your house. Get creative, and find a format that works for you!

Focusing on the positive things in your life, even if you can only think of small things to begin with, will give you a brighter outlook and can help with things like depression or anxiety. Give gratitude a try and see how it makes you feel! 

Jessica Dubauskas