Published May 16, 2024
As an engineer, wife and mother, I understand the challenges professionals face in balancing productivity with appreciation for life's blessings.
In our fast-paced world, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle, overlooking the simple joys and wonders that surround us.
Incorporating gratitude exercises into your daily routine can have profound effects on your overall well-being. By taking the time to reflect on the positive, write about your blessings, and engage your senses, you'll cultivate a deeper sense of gratitude and contentment.
That's why I'm excited to share with you seven exercises that can help you shift your perspective and cultivate gratitude for a happier life. Plus, there's a bonus eighth exercise waiting for you at the end!
I’ve broken down the exercises in four sections:
- Exercises that help you reflect on the positive
- Exercises that help you write about the positive
- Exercises that help you use your senses to focus on the positive
- Bonus exercise
Exercises that help you reflect on the positive
Think about your answers to the following questions: What's going well for me this week? What have I enjoyed about today? What was a great thing that happened last year? Take time to pause as you answer the questions to feel gratitude for the things in your life.
Imagine how your life would be without the good things that happened to you or the people you love. Think about the events that made you happy, like having a baby, getting a promotion, owning a home, or finding your partner, and how they could have gone another way. This is what gratitude exercises like Mental Subtraction of Positive Events or Mental Subtraction of Relationships are about. They help you avoid taking what you have for granted and help you appreciate what you have.
Think about how your life compares to those who are less fortunate than you and be aware of how much worse your life could be. This practice helps you to be grateful for your blessings and not overlook them.
Exercises that help you write about the positive
Writing a Gratitude Letter can help you feel more grateful and improve your relationship with the recipient. (Bonus: the benefits are even greater for you if you deliver the letter in person -- and you'll likely brighten the other person's day as well!)
Keep a Gratitude Journal or write about Three Good Things that occur each day. By doing this, you can appreciate the good things in your life and keep them in the front of your mind.
Exercises that help you use your senses to focus on the positive
Explore gratitude through your senses: Use your senses to fully take in and find joy in where you are right now and appreciate things. For example, what do you see that is pretty? What do you smell that is nice? What sound or lack of sound can you enjoy? (Bonus: for anything that you’ve noticed that you aren’t happy with – try to change it! For example, you could change the scents in the area with perfume or essential oils or play your favorite song to hear something that you enjoy.)
Take a Savoring Walk to cultivate gratitude through your senses. To do this, go for a 20-minute walk and pay attention to the things that make you happy—the smell of flowers, the sound of laughter, the sight of a beautiful sunset. Try to appreciate each positive thing and think about why it matters to you. You can also explore different routes on your walks to find new things to enjoy.
Bonus Exercise: Pinpoint, Express, Ponder
The exercises listed in the three sections above are very powerful, but they are quite different.
The differences made me wonder if there was a process for cultivating gratitude that would combine the similarities across the exercises.
I was surprised that I couldn’t find one. So, I created one!
Drawing from my background in engineering, I've developed a three-step process—pinpoint, express, and ponder (PEP) — that captures important findings in gratitude research and key attributes of popular gratitude practices into a cohesive framework.
You can learn more about that process here.
An example of a gratitude exercise based on this process is:
Example PEP Gratitude Exercise:
- Pinpoint: Think of something you have enjoyed eating.
- Express: Decide how to express your appreciation for the experience. (There are many ways you could do this, in fact, I'm building a list of the ways you can express gratitude here.)
- Ponder: Answer questions like — how did your experience eating that food brighten your day or lift your spirits? — to help you reflect on your gratitude and why this moment was meaningful to you.
PEP based exercises are great because they help you:
- Pinpoint by suggesting a specific prompt to start,
- Express by giving you a list of flexible options for how to express your thankfulness for the prompt and,
- Ponder by asking questions to help you feel gratitude for the prompt’s positive impact on your life.
Now that you know the gratitude exercises, how will you put them into practice?
Remember, gratitude is a powerful tool that can transform how you perceive the world and lead to a happier, more fulfilling life.
However, you have to practice gratitude consistently to enjoy the benefits.
Happy Mindset can help.
Happy Mindset creates personalized gratitude prompts for you and automatically integrates them within an app you use every day - your calendar.
By using Happy Mindset, you'll receive helpful prompts and guidance to help you feel happier through daily doses of gratitude.
Ready to continue your gratitude journey with support from Happy Mindset?