In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November and is a day set aside to give thanks for our many blessings. However, practicing gratitude needn't be limited to one day a year. Having an attitude of gratitude is really an approach to life that is a conscious choice and simply requires you to notice the gifts that surround you (which is easier said than done).


Robert Emmons, who is an expert on the psychology of gratitude, conducted an experiment where he randomly assigned participants one of three tasks and asked them to keep a short journal. The first group wrote five things
that had occurred in the past week that they were grateful for (the gratitude condition). The second group did the opposite, writing five daily hassles (the hassles condition) and the third group (the events condition) simply wrote five events that occurred in the last week (neither positive nor negative).

After ten weeks, participants in the gratitude condition felt better about their lives as a whole and were more optimistic about the future. They had fewer symptoms of physical illness, fewer health complaints, reported sleeping better and even spent more time exercising.

Keeping a gratitude journal is something I have been doing (and have been recommending to my coaching clients) for more than a year. I typically start my day listing several things I am grateful for and then describe why each good thing happened or what I had to do with it happening. I call this second part "bringing it home" and have found it more energizing than just making a gratitude list. I have been amazed at how many "gifts" I have in my life (my list is always different) and I even catch myself "looking" for things to be grateful for throughout the day. Taking a few minutes each day to embrace gratitude is energizing and creates significantly more joy in life!

One of the best ways to cultivate gratitude is to establish a daily practice in which you remind yourself of the gifts and good things you enjoy.

Each morning or evening for the next two weeks, set aside five minutes and think back over the previous 24 hours. In your journal (I recommend keeping a gratitude journal that is separate from your daily journal) or on your computer, write down up to five things that you appreciate or are grateful for. Some examples from my journal include "I woke up early today," "I have a free day," "it's a beautiful day and we are taking our boat out this morning," "my office is beautifully decorated and neat," "I live in Florida where I can enjoy sunshine most of the year," "the class I taught was energizing."

Then spend a few minutes thinking about why each of those things happened or what you had to do with it. Writing down the reasons you came up with can make the exercise even more powerful.

If you want to measure the benefits (other than just the way you feel) of doing this exercise, you can take the Satisfaction with Life Scale and General Happiness Scale at Authentic Happiness before you start practicing gratitude and after doing the exercise for two weeks. You must register at the site before you can access the assessments, but registering is free.

Compare your "before" and "after" scores to measure if your happiness and satisfaction have improved. If they have improved (or you notice you are feeling more energized), you might want to make the gratitude journal part of your permanent routine.