5 Benefits of Keeping a Daily Gratitude List
If you've ever felt thankful for your good health, or counted your blessings for your successful job or happy marriage, then you've experienced gratitude. Gratitude is an important emotion to cultivate because it can translate to more productivity, a feeling of optimism, and better social awareness.
In a recent study, researchers found that gratitude has many far-reaching and positive effects, from sleeping better to feeling healthier to helping others more often. Here are five of the benefits their study revealed for people who regularly kept a gratitude list:
1. Feeling happy and optimistic. Researchers found that people who kept a weekly list of things they felt grateful for felt more optimistic and had a more positive outlook on their own lives.
2. Having more energy. People who maintained a gratitude journal tended to have more energy, even exercising more often than those who didn't.
3. Sleeping better. People who showed gratitude also got more sleep and had better sleep quality than people who focused on neutral or negative emotions.
4. Staying healthier. Researchers found that participants who kept a daily gratitude list reporter fewer negative health symptoms and fewer negative emotions.
5. Helping others. When people focused on their blessings, researchers found they were more likely to help other people who needed personal or emotional support. This means the benefits of gratitude actually extend way beyond just the individual person.
If you're thinking about keeping your own gratitude list, you can start with these three easy steps:
Start off simple. Start by listing just three things that you feel grateful for. By keeping your list short and sweet, you'll stick with it more often.
Write it down daily. Next, write your gratitude list every day. By writing this short list on a regular basis, you'll soon make a habit out of it.
Find what works for you. Many people prefer to keep a "gratitude journal" by writing their list in a notebook. But you can also make notes on your mobile device or start an online document. The important thing is to find the method that works best for you.
Find something that helps to develop every aspect of your personal and professional talents to be grateful for daily.