BLOGTOBER: The importance of gratitude

Yesterday was the Canadian Thanksgiving Day and although (being British) I don’t celebrate it, I like to keep it in my thoughts since my time in Canada.

It got me thinking about gratitude and why it is so important. The British don’t have a Thanksgiving day and from my experience, gratitude is mainly thought of by church-goers. In Britain, we have an annual Harvest, but even that is more rooted in religion or village folks.

My practise of gratitude came about when I started bullet journalling. I found that people (mainly North Americans) would create a whole spread dedicated to gratitude and others would post gratitude prompts on Pinterest for further reflection.

Here’s why I recommend that we should all practise gratitude:

This new world of social media means that we get to see more of other people’s private lives. Facebook and Instagram are filled with engagements, new homes and new cars. YouTube is saturated with the most beautiful wedding videos and vloggers who have become so successful, they can afford the best of everything that money can buy.

Research is finding that the use of social media is lowering our self-worth but what if we could combat that by focusing on what we have in the present? If we thought more about what we have to be grateful for, perhaps we would feel like the grass isn’t greener on the other side after all.

Ways you can practise gratitude:

1. Write it down. Journalling is great because you can write down how you are feeling and refer back to it later if/when you need to.
2. If you’re grateful to a particular person, tell them. Thank you gifts are great but why not try writing a heartfelt thank you note instead.
3. Practise gratitude through meditation. Find somewhere quiet and take some deep breaths. Think of what you have in your life that you enjoy and what you are content with.
4. If you don’t have a Thanksgiving day, consider hosting an evening meal with friends and family and take it in turns to go around the dinner table and say what you are thankful for.
5. Or quite simply, think about gratitude from time to time during your daily life. Remind yourself what makes you happy.

How do you practise gratitude? How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Let me know in the comments below!

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Thanks for reading!

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash