Thursday Thoughts: What Are You Grateful For Today?

Thursday Thoughts: What Are You Grateful For Today?

Gratitude is defined as the quality of being thankful, or a readiness to show appreciation for, and return kindness. You can be grateful for many different successes, moments, or even items in your everyday life. It can be something big, like landing a job after a long string of interviews, or something small like someone holding the door for you. Big or small, research suggests that acknowledging gratitude is consistently associated with greater happiness. People feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, and use that positivity to make better life choices to improve their overall health, deal with adversity, build strong relationships, or even to sleep better.

Sometimes we forget about the little things that we are grateful for every day. Below we have 10 things to be grateful for every day.

10 Things to be Grateful For

1. A supporting family
2. Friends
3. Vacations
4. Comfortable shoes
5. Netflix
6. Funny jokes
7. Coffee
8. Music
9. Pets
10. Flowers

Psychologists Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California – Davis, and Dr. Michael E. McCullough of the University of Miami, researched gratitude. In one of their studies, they had all participants write a few sentences a week. One group wrote what they were grateful for, another wrote what irritated them, and the last group was told to write about events that affected them with no emphasis on being good or bad. After a couple months they found that the participates in the first group that were writing about what they were grateful for, were more optimistic and felt better about their lives.

Being grateful is a way for individuals to appreciate moments, memories, or items. Are you looking for ways to help you appreciate the gratitude in your life? You can personally thank another person for their actions, write them a thank-you note, or just mentally thank them.

Practicing gratitude daily has reduced stress levels, and makes people happier. Sometimes we forget to show our gratitude towards others. Maybe you can take the time to text or call someone you miss and let them know you appreciate your relationship with them. What are you grateful for? Comment below!