Strategies for adding gratitude practice to your routine

Now that we know know regular and conscious focus on positive aspects of your life can improve mental health, increase happiness, and reduce anxiety, how do we make this practice into a habit?

Some of the best strategies for applying the practice of gratitude to your routine are:

• Having prompts: This can be as simple as a note on your mirror or as complex as a schedule reminder set in your phone. Some people even use an object in their pocket or a shell in the bowl where they put their keys. It’s simply a cue to remind you to carve out a few minutes to consider a few things that make your life easier, happier, or better.

• Time of day reflections: This can be a set time of the day that is very consistent and routine to cue you into action. Whether it be during your daily shower, before a meal, or just as you climb in bed for the night. The action of a part of your daily routine cues you to pause and reflect on things you have to be grateful for in your life.

• Gratitude journaling: If you like journaling or are already doing so, adding a note of gratitude before you start journaling will not only set the practice as a routine but allow you look back on all the things you have to been grateful about over the course of the entire journal.

Regardless of how you apply your practice of gratitude, choosing to practice will be of benefit to not only you but everyone else in your life.