How To Cultivate Thankfulness In Your Daily Life

Thankfulness is usually a big topic in November, but I think it deserves some love throughout the year. By learning how to cultivate thankfulness into your daily life, you’ll benefit in many ways, which we will be discussing in this post. Today I’m sharing different ways that you can add thankfulness to your life, no matter what time of year it is.

Why Thankfulness Year Round Is Beneficial

You shouldn’t save all your thankfulness for one month out of the year, and there are some great reasons why. Gratitude can help increase your emotional well-being as you start focusing more on the positive things in your life. This is especially helpful if you struggle with mental health issues like anxiety and depression.

Thankfulness can also benefit your physical health. Studies have shown that there is a link between keeping a gratitude journal and lower blood pressure, improved sleep, and even less aches and pains. That all sounds great to me!

How To Cultivate Thankfulness In Your Daily Life

It’s time to start incorporating thankfulness all year long.You’ve learned about the benefits so now let’s talk about the different gratitude activities out there. 

Gratitude Lists

First up we have one of the more common activities to cultivate thankfulness, the gratitude list. I like writing out my gratitude list everyday right before journaling. When it comes to your gratitude list, you can go about it two different ways.

You can write out the big things that you are grateful for (like your family, your job, your friends, etc.), or you can write about those small moments of gratitude that gets you through the day (like the first sip of coffee in the morning, a stranger smiling at you, finding money in your pocket when you are doing laundry, etc.). Whatever way you decide to do, try coming up with three to five things that you are grateful for each day.

If you need some ideas to get you started with your daily lists, our GenTwenty editor Nicole has some great ones to check out.

Thank You Cards

Thank you cards can be more than what you send when you receive something from someone, although it’s great to send them too. I love getting random snail mail from friends telling me they’re thankful for my friendship almost as much as I love sending them.

It’s something that I want to start to do more often. I believe it’s something that can make someone’s day, or at the very least bring a smile to their face. Grab some stationary and start sending out thank you cards to your friends, mentors, family, etc..

Volunteering as a Way to Cultivate Thankfulness

Finding an organization that you align with to volunteer for regularly is a great thing to do. Not only will you be making a difference, you’ll feel great about doing it too.

There are a plethora of organizations that need volunteers just like you. Find an area that you’re interested in and find out how to get plugged in. Some examples are animal welfare, underprivileged kids, disaster relief, and homelessness to name a few.

Celebrate Small Wins

Celebrating the good things in life is a great way to express thankfulness to yourself. This is helpful for times when you are maybe feeling low or having a bad week. Taking time to reflect on what you’ve accomplished can help reframe your current feelings.

Just like with gratitude lists, taking time to think of the small things can be even more impactful in the long run. Activities like passing a test, not pressing the snooze button, and doing your laundry can have the same excitement as getting a job offer or getting asked on a date, on days when you really need a win.

Turn The Negatives Into A Gratitude Moment

This activity to cultivate thankfulness takes a little more work than the others, but it’s an important one to add to your life. I’m a firm believer that there is a lesson or a reason in everything. For this activity you want to take a negative experience and look at it in a thankfulness lens. 

Didn’t get the job you applied for? Try repeating to yourself that you are grateful that the right job for you is still out there. Friends hanging out without you? Tell yourself that you are grateful to have the extra time to study, spend time with your roommate, etc.. It may be difficult to do this at first, but the more you practice it, the easier it will get.

Pay It Forward

You’ve probably experienced this a time or too in your life. A common one is paying for the person’s order behind you. If it has happened to you, you know how great and heartwarming it feels. Being the recipient of this gesture is great, but doing the gesture is even better.

This is something that I want to do more of. Some other examples are paying for someone’s groceries, mowing your neighbor’s lawn, picking up trash in the park, etc.. Join me in paying it forward more throughout the year as a practice to cultivate thankfulness.

Bonus: Gratitude Photo Challenge

I want to leave you with a challenge. Can you take a photo of something you are grateful for for 30 days straight? That is what I’m challenging myself, and all of you, to do. Feel free to use a template to reflect on what you are thankful for and keep all your daily challenge photos together.

What’s great about this is that you can do this at any time. So if you are coming across this blog post at some time in the future in a random month, let’s say July, you can start the challenge then. You can make it a November tradition that you do every year.

Another time that would be great to do this would be the beginning of the year. I think you get my point. Complete this challenge anytime that you want to, as much as you want to. 

Click here or the image below to download!

Final Thoughts on How to Cultivate Thankfulness

Now that you know how to incorporate more thankfulness into your life, it’s time to put it into practice. If you like one of these ideas but feel like you can personalize it to your specific abilities or wants, please do so! Which one(s) will you be adapting to your lifestyle?

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