I’m sure you’ve heard that having a gratitude practice is important, but does it actually do anything? The idea of expressing gratitude to change your life seems like a pretty big claim.

Good news, the hype lives up to the expectations! There are scientific results that prove being grateful daily can improve your overall happiness as well as your health and even your career!

If you consistently spend a couple of minutes a day expressing your gratitude, you can see some amazing benefits.

Reduction in depression symptoms
Decrease in systolic blood pressure
More sleep and increased sleep quality
Less physical pain
Increased relaxation
Increased productivity
Increased optimism

If you want to change your life for the better, it will cost you five minutes a day. Other than that, you can start a gratitude practice for free.

The best part of a gratitude practice is that you can do whatever works best for you. You can write down a couple of things you’re grateful for every day, or you can say out loud what you’re grateful for. All a gratitude practice takes is an acknowledgment of what you have in your life that you are thankful for.

I work with all of my clients on gratitude because it makes such a huge difference in their health journey. It keeps them energized when the scale isn’t moving and helps them celebrate non-scale victories.

Are you ready to get started? Creating a habit of gratitude is simple, but it does take effort to make it stick!

Set a time for your gratitude practice

The first thing that you need to do when changing any habit is to create a specific time when you will practice your habit. For a gratitude practice, you need to choose a time to focus on gratitude.

While you can practice gratitude while doing other tasks, I recommend setting aside a specific time to sit down and focus on what you’re grateful for. It makes it more meaningful when you focus on gratitude.

I like to do a 5 minute gratitude practice first thing in the morning. A lot of people like to end their day with gratitude so that they can focus on the good things that happened in their days. It doesn’t really matter when you practice gratitude, but it’s easier to do it when you have a specific time to sit, ponder and be grateful.

Keep your gratitude simple

When people start their gratitude practice they feel like they run out of things to be grateful for every day because they tend to only focus on the big things. A roof above your head, family or friends, your job. Those things are all important and you should be grateful for them, but it’s even better to appreciate the small little things in your day-to-day life to be grateful for.

A good cup of coffee
A breakthrough moment with your kids
Time alone with your spouse
A good meal
Quiet time to yourself
Your favorite song on the radio

These little things bring joy into our lives but sometimes we miss them because we don’t take time to appreciate them! A gratitude practice is meant to help you see the little bits of joy in your life every day!

I promise that if you look for these little things, you’ll never run out of things to be grateful for!

Use whatever tools you need to create the habit

Creating a gratitude habit can be absolutely free, but if it helps you to have a pretty notebook to write in or a guided gratitude journal, then do it! This is YOUR gratitude practice! That means you get to do whatever works for you.

Here are a few tools you can use to create your own gratitude habit

A plain notebook
A document on your computer
A note on your phone (a great option to keep track of things all day)
A voice record on your phone
The 5 Minute Journal (this is what I use!)

If you struggle to remember to actually do your gratitude practice, then set a reminder on your phone! You can even get an accountability partner and you can help each other!

Remember, what you celebrate you replicate. If you are celebrating the little things that are bringing joy into your life, then you will continue to have and see more of those things in your life!

There is no wrong way to be grateful! You can start this practice today! Don’t put off something that is simple and can create a huge shift in your life for another day!

I would love to hear about your gratitude practice! Tell me all about in the comments or on social media @kmoremacro.

3 tips to get your own gratitude practice started today to change your life forever

Set a time for your gratitude practice

Keep your gratitude simple

Use whatever tools you need to create the habit