Fill February with Love and Gratitude
What is gratitude? It's a sense of wonder, thankfulness & appreciation for life.
Is it true that practicing gratitude can help you become healthier and happier? The short answer is yes. Various studies have shown that gratitude has a powerful relationship with health and well-being, both our own and that of others around us.
- Gratitude increases optimism in life and encourages positive thinking. It also makes managing daily stress and traumatic events easier. Appreciating things in our lives and focusing on the positive can help us move forward with purpose.
- Gratitude can also strengthen our relationships. If people feel gratitude toward others, even if they do not express it to the other, they feel closer to them and report overall better relationships.
- The benefits of gratitude extend to our health and sleep as well. It can help us achieve our goals. It helps us learn our communication style, which affects our home, work, and community relationships.
You can practice gratitude in a multitude of ways, like:
- Self-appreciation: Say five good things to yourself every day.
- Journaling: Every day, write three good things that went well or things you are grateful for. Events, skills, or strengths you used, goals you achieved, or good news about people in your life can all be listed. The next step is to reflect on them. Why did it work well? Did you or others in your life contribute to the good thing that happened? Focus on what you have gained, not what you are giving up.
- Make a person feel special: If someone has positively impacted your happiness or success, you can express gratitude with a gift, writing a note, or telling them how much they mean to you. Or, if you have a friend or coworker who has influenced your life, make them feel special by thanking them and telling them how much you appreciate them.
- Find a gratitude buddy:Share your gratitude practice with a friend, spouse, or child. Once or twice a week, take a few minutes to express your gratitude.
Every person's gratitude practice will be different, but it can be learned and practiced day-to-day.
Joy Miller, Family and Community Wellness Extension Agent
February 2025
Sources: Aging Mastery Playbook by James Firman and Susan Stiles;
by Joy Miller, Family and Community Wellness Agent, 2024
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