5 Daily Habits for Living a Grateful Life

A grateful life is nothing less than magical. A life where we find things to appreciate, thoughts to uplift us, and hold faith even in challenges.

A grateful life is one that is empowered because we’re aware of what truly matters, our thoughts are steered towards positivity, and we learn to experience true happiness.

What can you do to live a grateful life? We have some tips here. In this post, you’ll find 5 daily habits to build for a grateful life. Reinforcing these habits regularly can be a great way to lead a life that breathes gratitude every day.

5 Daily Habits for Living a Grateful Life

1. Invest our energy mindfully

The step to choose where to dedicate our energy is empowering. When our immensely valuable energy is invested in meaningful endeavors, we welcome beautiful experiences into our lives.

To do this effectively, we must recognize what is truly important to us and hold on to it. Mindfully appreciating the time that is gifted to us and making the best use of our energy shows the gratitude that we feel for what we have in this life.

2. Look for the brighter side

When a new event is coming up or something’s changing or anything is being anticipated, are you someone who will think and worry about all that could go wrong?

While the benefit here is that you are prepared for the worst (which has low chances of happening), the downside is that there is hardly any moment to relax. Approaching experiences in a state of worry diminishes the excitement that we could have experienced instead.

If we think about all the things that could go wrong, why not also think about all the things that could go right? Take a look at your past and reflect on how many times you worried fruitlessly to find most things turned out perfectly okay.
Read our post on tips to worry less.

3. Express gratitude for the smallest blessings

There are always things to complain about and always things to feel grateful for. Since complaining is easier and common among people, we tend to do it more often.

But, if we train ourselves to appreciate the smallest things that go right and make us feel good, our life would always be a blessing to us. Think about breathing or walking or reading or laughing or smiling, we are fortunate to do any of these things but how many times have we truly expressed gratitude for them?

I empathize… on tough days, gratitude might even feel silly but it is most important in those very moments. For more, you can read our post about feeling grateful when it’s hard and learn tips to apply when you run out of things to appreciate.

4. Bring ourselves back to the present moment

What we truly have, all we truly have is now. This moment, where you are, and what you are doing, is what is really there. Often we fixate on the past or worry about the future and make the mistake of ignoring our present.

To gain sight of what’s to come, or to regret what we’ve lost, we miss the moment that we’re living in. When you’re deep in the maze of disempowering thoughts, take a deep breath and look around you.

Bring yourself back to that place and focus on the things around you. This is where you are, not back in your past or into the future. Notice the air, sounds, objects, and all that you’re interacting with.

Actively doing this helps in keeping a check on our thought train and appreciating the moment we exist in but are not giving our presence.

5. Be our best friend

A true best friend is someone that will be the first to hold us accountable, to critique us, and to humble us, but also the one who wishes the best for us, always believes in us, gives us strength, and forgives us. We might do the first parts well, but what about the supportive parts?

Do we give the same kindness to ourselves as we give to our best friend? Do we believe in ourselves as we do in our best friend? Do we appreciate our life as much as we appreciate our best friend’s life?

When you’re being too hard on yourself or when you run out of solutions, think of yourself as your best friend. How would you approach them? How would you feel if they were as harsh on themselves as you might be on yourself? What do you want for them?

You deserve to receive as much love, care, and acceptance from yourself as you give to the people you love. Here are some quotes to remind you to be kind to your mind and life.

So, there you are! These were 5 habits to build for the experience of a life of gratitude. These habits might not strike as obvious, or even sound like habits per se, but if we approach them that way, they'll become second nature to us.

We all deserve and are worthy of living a happy life, and gratitude is perhaps the best way to lead us to that. Let's keep doing what we can to embrace more gratitude in our day-to-day lives and experience the great joy of being alive.

Continue Reading: 7 Ways to Be a Good Friend to Yourself From Today

Aarushi Tewari

The writer and affirmations speaker at Gratitude, Aarushi believes that one of the most effective ways of feeling inner peace is by being grateful and having a loving self-relationship.