Let gratitude into your life

A way to less stress and more well-being

"It's not the lucky ones who are grateful. It's the grateful ones who are happy." Or so it is said an English philosopher named Francis Bacon once said. So, according to this saying, it is possible to come a little closer to happiness in life. One way to do that is through gratitude.

Practising gratitude and feeling better

In life, of course, not only good things come our way. We are not always satisfied or run radiantly through our everyday life. Stress often catches up with us or we meet people with whom we cannot get along. But thankfulness can help us to focus on something positive even in these moments and thus achieve that we feel better

You can let gratitude into your life in many different ways and thus train yourself to focus on the good and beautiful in your everyday life. Little by little you will notice that it is becoming easier and easier to find things for which you are grateful. This will help you to stay calm or see something positive even in situations of stress, fear or challenge. It is important that you consciously take the time for your gratitude ritual and do it regularly. Think carefully about when the exercise fits into your everyday life and when you are undisturbed. It is good to know that children also like to deal with gratitude. The following exercises are therefore a great family project. Not only can you inspire each other, but you can also learn from each other in a wonderful way.

Find your personal gratitude exercise

Minutes of gratitude: Find a quiet time for this exercise and take a moment just for yourself. This can be when you get up in the morning, in the shower or on the train to work. At the beginning it can be helpful to set a stopwatch or your mobile phone timer to 2 minutes so that you get a feeling for the amount of time. And then you can get going! Use these 2 minutes and mentally enumerate everything for which you are grateful today. This can be the cosy bed at night, the fresh coffee or the first rays of sunshine in the morning. Feel free, be creative and bathe in gratitude. You will notice that you will feel more relaxed immediately afterwards

Gratitude diary: To record something in writing is always a good idea. In this way, the thoughts you write down will solidify in your mind in a completely different way. This is exactly what happens with gratitude. Get yourself a nice book - your gratitude diary. Now write down in your own size and with your words what you are thankful for. You can do this every day or every week, as long as you find your own routine and, while writing, deal for a moment with all the beautiful things that life has in store for you. It will be fun to read through this book after a while and to look back on what you were already thankful for

The glass of gratitude: For this exercise you need a glass which you can close. Maybe you can find one that looks nice and that you like to have in your apartment. The goal is to fill this glass with gratitude. Write down on a piece of paper every day (it doesn't matter when) what makes you happy today - what you are thankful for. These can be very small or very big things. If you feel like it, you can even describe several pieces of paper. After some time you will see how your glass of gratitude fills and realize how many wonderful moments, people and things you have in your life. Set a point in time when you open your thankfulness glass and read through what has made you feel positive during this time. Maybe you will even gain insights for your everyday life through these exercises: Which people are especially good for you? What do you enjoy spending your time with? You can also use this for yourself in order to shape your everyday life in the future and fall back on these things in times of stress and challenge

We wish you a lot of fun trying it out!

Published on 09.07.2020