Positive Psychology for Starters
Gratitude
40% of our happiness can be determined by the activities we chose to do in our daily lives. Certain activities created within the Positive Psychology field can help you get control and improve this 40% of your life. This is where integrating gratitude in your life comes in. But what is gratitude? Gratitude is experienced when we appreciate something that has come our way as a gift to be treasured. Gratitude opens your heart and carries the urge to give back. Gratitude is also part of one of the 10 positive emotions described by Barbara Fredrickson. Experiencing positive emotions can in turn increase your well-being (Fredrickson, 2011).
The positive effects
Gratitude plays a big role within Positive Psychology. Experiencing gratitude on a regular basis has shown to improve multiple aspects of people's life satisfaction, well-being, mental and physical health. For instance the following positive psychological outcomes are enhanced due to gratitude, hope, pride, optimism, promotes social relationships and positive mood in young adults. Grateful thinkers tend to savour positive life experiences more intensely than others. This helps buffer against other negative emotions (Leontopoulou, 2015). Your behaviour can become more spontaneous and more creative. Practicing gratitude can also enhance your relationships and social bonds as it makes you more appreciative and expressing this can make others feel joy and even grateful for having those relationships.
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On this page about gratitude, different tools and activities are offered which you can implement in your daily life. These intervention activities when carried out at the right time, and in the right setting can bring lasting positive contributions in your well-being.
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Open your eyes to kindness and gratitude. Savor goodness when you see it. The activities mentioned on this website are small things you can do in your daily life, but can have a big effect on how you see and experience things.
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These activities allow you to open your mindset and put you on a path of resilience and growth!
Activities to Practice Gratitude
3 good things
Pick a notebook or diary to write in. Then write about 3 things that went well today and why, do this preferably before you go to bed and reflect on your day. What went well that day, why did it go well, and what role did you or someone else play in this?
Try to create a routine so that it becomes a regular thing to write and reflect about your day.
Sidenote; This exercise is most effective when done for 10 days or longer. So when you chose this activity try to keep doing it for at least 10 days.
The gratitude jar
However big or small, write down all the things that you are grateful for and put the (separate) notes into a container, jar or box. Somewhere that keeps the notes together, and you can look at them later. You can write a note or add a note to the jar whenever you’d like during the day, try to add to the jar at least once a day. It can be just after the moment it happened or at the end of the day.
Sidenote; The gratitude jar is a very nice thing to do for a longer amount of time. After a few days or weeks you can look back at them when you are feeling down or just want to reflect on some happy memories.
Gratitude meditation
Find a nice comfortable spot on your couch, chair, on a cushion on the floor or outside in the grass and listen to a guided gratitude meditation. You can find the link here.
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Sidenote; you can do a gratitude meditation at any point in the day, however practicing a meditation often works best right after you have woken up or just before you are about to go to bed. Start or end your day with a gratitude meditation.
Did you enjoy the meditation? Go to our mindfulness page and learn more about implementing mindfulness in your day.
Take a picture
For this activity you are going to need a phone or a camera. At some point in your day take a picture of something or someone in a moment that you felt grateful or happy about. For example you see the bees flying around on a morning run, you love the latte art on your coffee. It can be a picture of anything, if you are grateful and happy because the sun is sunshine, just take a picture of the sun. Do your plants look greener than usual? Of course it can also be a friend or family member that you saw that day and they just made you feel good.
Sidenote; This exercise is a nice way to be aware of your environment and appreciate the things and people around you during your day. These exercises are only tools and ways for you to experience gratefulness on a daily basis and improve your well-being. So try to enjoy the process!
The thank you note
This activity is about letting someone else know or remind them how much you appreciate them. The goal is to send a thank you note/message/voice memo to someone that you want to say thank you to. It can be a small thank you for something that happened that moment, or that you’re just thankful for them in general. Just appreciating them and telling them that. It can be your neighbour saying good morning, your boyfriend picking you up, or your mother making you dinner. It can be as simple as you want, just try to send or give it to that person.
Sidenote; If it feels too much to actually send someone this thank you note, you don’t have to send it. You can also write it for yourself! However you will experience more positive emotions when you do send it, how great would it feel to receive something like that from someone!
Noticing someone else do good
This exercise is about focussing on other people and appreciate the good happening around you. See if you can notice when someone else, a stranger or someone you know does something good that day. When you see this, appreciate and compliment them for doing that. It can be when your partner cleans a dirty dish, or when you saw someone pick up someone's wallet and return it to them. The goal is to look around you, and noticing what good other people are doing and being appreciative of the good others do.