How practising gratitude can benefit your mental health and help during tough times
Learning to be thankful can help us focus on the positives during tough times, writes OmSkool Yoga founder Alison Drake
Practising gratitude can help you learn to focus on the positives even when you feel depressed or overwhelmed. Photo: ShutterstockEvery week, Talking Points gives you a worksheet to practise your reading comprehension with exercises about the story we’ve written.
Sometimes, it can be tough to remember the positive things in life. It’s why practising gratitude is so important. Gratitude means being aware of and thankful for what we have in our lives.
Focusing on gratitude can help increase feelings of happiness and boost mood, according to a 2021 report by Harvard Health Publishing. The report cited simple actions such as keeping a gratitude journal, counting one’s blessings and meditation as ways to cultivate gratitude.
By choosing gratitude, we are focusing on the good things in our lives. Practising gratitude can also be helpful if you feel down or overwhelmed.
Of course, there will always be difficult experiences in life, and being grateful does not mean those difficulties are not real. However, it is a powerful tool to help you remember that, even during the tough times, there is always something to be thankful for.
Here are three suggestions for starting a daily gratitude practice:
1. In the morning, write down three to five things you are grateful for. Writing rather than typing gives you a nice break from screen time. Add as much detail as you see fit. You could get yourself a nice new notepad for this purpose. As time passes, it can be a lovely idea to reflect on what you have written and be reminded of everything you are grateful for.
2. As you lie down to sleep at night, think of three to five things from your day that you are grateful for and why. It can be great to fall asleep with all this gratitude running through your mind!
3. Focus on someone you are genuinely grateful for and why. You can do this by thinking about the person in your head or telling them directly. You could talk to them, text them, call them on the phone or write an email. Imagine how hearing this from you would make them feel. It could also make you feel good!
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The “three to five things” mentioned earlier are guidelines to help you get started. You can write down as many things as you would like each day.
On days when you feel low or things are challenging, even finding one or two things might feel like a big step. That’s perfectly OK! The important thing is to engage with the practice of gratitude in a way that feels authentic and manageable for you.
Thinking of specific categories to focus your gratitude on can be helpful. Such examples include: the people around you, pets and animals, nature, food or pleasant experiences.
This helps you find different things to be grateful for that feel important to you. It also encourages you to see all the good things in your life by looking at it differently.
You can note how you feel when you do any of these practices. Do you notice a lightness in your chest when you recall chatting to a friend? Does a warm feeling spread through you as you remember spending time with your pet?
Paying attention to these physical and emotional responses can help deepen your experience of gratitude. Consistency is key.
Even if you are having a tricky day, try to stick with this practice. Notice how you feel over time, even when you are having a bad day. You will learn that you can actively train your brain to become more attuned to the positive things in your life.
Answers provided by Alison Drake, founder of OmSkool Yoga in Hong Kong. Drake supports youth with well-being strategies to navigate their physical, mental and emotional health.
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