Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday reminder to cultivate generosity, gratitude, and positivity in your life. Finding ways to be thankful in your daily life brings more inner peace. In addition, a grateful attitude enhances your sense of greater life satisfaction. It also reduce one’s need to be overly reactive in a triggering situation. You aren’t always able to control what’s going on in your life, but you can control how you react to words or circumstances.
Instead of reacting without thinking, respond from a perspective of gratitude and choose to see the positive side. This technique will help you live more in the present with an easygoing and happier state of being. Let’s talk about the best ways to be more grateful this Thanksgiving. See for yourself how a gracious attitude is a positive influence in your daily life.
Making a List
It’s often easy to overlook the small things in life we should be grateful for. Writing a daily list of five simple things you are thankful for is an easy way to stay grounded and focused on abundance rather than scarcity. Some examples include your health, family, friends, a cup of coffee, or a good night’s sleep. Sharing that list with friends and family members helps you remember all you have. It can inspire thankfulness in others.
Try going around the dinner table this year and having everyone states a few, small things they’re grateful for this Thanksgiving. This will help you and the people realize the things that they are thankful for. Sometimes, we forget about all the things we have until we do not start counting the blessings.
Positive Language
We don’t even realize half the time when we’re saying unpleasant things. I’m not only referring to gossiping and bad mouthing others, but also complaining about the world and criticizing yourself as well. All these words are just a waste of our time and energy. They blind us from the incredible things that are happening right in front of our eyes. If we train our brains to focus on happiness, we’ll see a carefree way of life blossom in front of our lives.
A great way to be positive is to gift yourself with daily affirmations. Look in the mirror everyday and tell yourself how lucky you are to get another day to live. Be thankful for what you have. Just remember that no one’s life is perfect. There is no perfect world or perfect story.
Volunteering
Volunteering is one of the best ways to show gratitude in your community. If your community has a homeless shelter or a food pantry, call and see what service opportunities they have for individuals or families during the holidays. A nursing home can also use people to come to chat with residents. This can be a great service opportunity for kids to get to interact with adults. It helps them to learn a little more about the world.
By giving to others, you learn more about how others live and are different from you. It helps you to realize that you have a lot in your life and they are missing all the things you have. By volunteering, you can a sentence of realization that you should be grateful for all the things that you have.
Express Appreciation
By verbally showing how thankful you are to the important people in your life, you bring more happiness into your own life. No matter who the individual is, they love to hear your appreciation. You will see how good it feels to give it. Tell your dad, your best friend, and your barista that you are grateful for them, and watch what unfolds next. You could potentially make their day. You will also be reminding yourself that you are surrounded by people who are there to support you.
A great idea would be to write thank you cards to your loved ones. You can give them to anyone who has influenced your life in a positive way. You don’t need to wait for a special occasion to send one along, either. Sending a card expressing your gratitude to a loved one just because can be one of the easiest ways to show how grateful you are for the person’s presence in your life.
Meaningful Gifts
Expressing gratitude isn’t about buying the most fancy or expensive gift money can buy. Instead, it’s about finding a way to show how much the person means to you that shows thought and care.
If your friend has been raving about her favorite book for years, invite her to a surprise reading to see the author or get her an autographed copy or first edition. If your friend loves yoga, get her a one-month pass to show how much you care. Sometimes something as simple as cooking for someone can mean a lot for someone.
Doing something sweet or buying something meaningful is a way to win a heart. It shows that you care about a person and are thinking about them. For example, if you have a parent that has always been there for you, it would be great to take them out for a nice dinner. It would make them feel so special and appreciated as well.
Listen
Another way to express gratitude to the person you care about is to be there to lend a listening ear. Just taking the time to be there for a person and to give him or her the time of day can be one of the best things you can do to make a person feel loved and appreciated. Just sit down with the person, shut off your phone, make eye contact, and take the time to really hear the person out. Instead of interrupting or planning your response in your head, actively listen. Few people feel like they are being heard in this multi-tasking society. You can show the person how much you care by really making an effort to listen.
Struggling to find your gratitude?