We all know how important practicing gratitude is, right? When we focus on what we have to be grateful for, our lives feel more abundant and we are reminded that life isn’t as difficult as we often feel it is.
When you practice gratitude, you get to enjoy the benefits of reliving the positivity in your mind, and you spread gratitude to those around you through your actions.
The best part of practicing gratitude is that there are so many ways to do so that there's no excuse to not be reaping its benefits! Here are 25 simple practices you can start today:
1. Send a thank you card.
2. Donate to a cause or company for their efforts to create a positive impact you support.
3. Volunteer locally.
4. Write in your gratitude journal.
5. Recycle as gratitude for the planet’s resources.
6. Accept compliments graciously.
7. Give compliments genuinely.
8. Talk about what you are grateful for with family (bonus points for reflecting on gratitude out loud).
9. Celebrate!
10. Give a generous tip for outstanding service.
11. Be present — get out of your head and practice gratitude by valuing the moment you're living right now.
12. Meditate.
13. Give a gift, send a gift, hand-make a gift.
14. Bless your meals and give thanks for the food that nurtures your body.
15. Write a positive public review.
16. Say thank you always.
17. Pay it forward by giving out the kindness you received to someone else, and pass on the gratitude
18. Call your parents (remember, they gave you life).
19. Fill out a compliment card.
20. Send personalized thoughtful notes: congratulations/thinking of you/get well/birthday.
21. Pick up the bill when you're out with people you care about.
22. Pray.
23. Text someone a personal note of appreciation out of the blue.
24. Honor the success of others as you do your own successes.
25. Go the extra mile.
Kathleen Ventura is a life and business coach, a TEDx speaker and a whole foods enthusiast. Making a move in 2012 that would terrify even the bravest of non-conformists, Kathleen quit her high-pressure sales job in the city, sold everything and set out to ride her bike across the United States. After 2 years of perpetual travel, she found her calling as a life and business coach for beginner female entrepreneurs. Kathleen now coaches women on the verge of quitting their day job to step into full time entrepreneurship. In her signature course Start Your Coaching Practice™ she helps new coaches understand and implement what is necessary to build a foundation for a successful coaching practice.