I am in the UK so we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving generally. But whenever I think about Thanksgiving, it conjures thoughts of practising gratitude and being thankful.
Two hugely important feelings that we need to make more time for. Life is busy and it can be so easy to forget to be grateful or thankful for those around us and the things we are blessed to have.
Gratitude VS Thankful
Both very similar but grateful often needs someone else involved. For example I am grateful for my family. This puts them in control of this feeling.
Thankful is almost an ownership of your feeling towards something, towards your own happiness. For example, I am so thankful for the family I have. I feel that thankful gives you ownership of that feeling.
Because at the root of it, gratitude or feeling thankful, the result is our happiness. And that is why, no matter which word you prefer, it is important that we allow ourselves time to reflect on what we are grateful or thankful for.
Practising gratitude and being thankful at Thanksgiving
When I took part in Jenny’s mindset mastery course, She asked that we write down 100 things that we were grateful for, 100!!!
It really pushed me out of my comfort zone if I am honest. Months later, I am still working on this list. But every time I look at the list I am overwhelmed with happiness. And in honesty a feeling of what can only be described as ‘Blessed’.
Practising gratitude has made me realise how blessed I am in life and that can’t fail to make me thankful and bring a smile to my face.
I use this list when things are difficult. Days where I feel overwhelmed or a genuine sadness descends. I can read through this list and it acts as a reminder that difficult days will always happen but there are plenty of wonderful days to come. Days where all the things I am thankful for are at the forefront.
How you can practice gratitude daily
A really simple way that you can practise gratitude and remind yourself of the reasons to be thankful is by keeping a journal. Me recommending journaling, bet ya didn’t see that coming hey!
But it’s a really easy way to keep a track, have a daily reminder of these positive thoughts. You could find that what you are grateful or thankful for each day could vary massively. Much like the Happy days project I take part in, keeping a track of these moments, people or things will help us feel full of positivity. This helping with your overall wellbeing.
Of course journal prompts are a great way to practise gratitude daily so I will leave you with some of my favourites.
Journal prompts
List the people who you are most thankful for in your life
What physical objects are you thankful for?
Is there someone you need to say thank you to right now?
How can you thank yourself today?
What simple joys did today bring?
However you choose to spend Thanksgiving, why not make a little time to focus on what you are thankful for in this moment. Maybe look back over this year and remind yourself of what has kept you going this year and what you appreciate more now than ever before.
Do you practise Gratitude daily? Do you see the value in being thankful for all you have?
Such a lovely post – it’s important to remember to practice being thankful. I like to think of 1 thing each evening that I am grateful for that day 🙂
Totally on your wavelength here lovely. Among the many things I’m grateful for, I count meeting the blogging community over the last 18 months – including you xx
I try to practise gratitude daily but I will be honest and say I don’t always! It is nice to think about what you are grateful or thankful for.
I loved this post! It’s so important to practice gratitude and I love the journal prompts you’ve shared xx
http://www.dellalovesnutella.co.uk/
Great post..
I don’t practice daily gratitude, but after reading this I definitely think I should! It’s so important to focus on the little things, as well as the bigger picture 🙂
Thank you for linking to the course! I know 100 was a pretty large number but it really helps to push you out of your comfort zone when thinking about what you’re grateful for. We often think of the obvious, such as family, friends, our pet etc. But when we have SO MANY spots to fill it encourages us to look deeper! There is sooo much to be grateful for and practicing gratitude really did change the game for me. I still keep a gratitude journal every day. Lovely post! xxxx
It’s always important to practice gratitude everyday, this is such a lovely post x
Lucy | http://www.lucymary.co.uk
I definitely think it is good to spend time being thankful and reminding people how they mean to us and just what they have done for us.
It sure makes a difference being thankful and being nice to everyone. At the end of the day its best to treat people as we want to be treated. I like to be thankful 🙂
Lovely post! It is important to practice gratitude and thankful during this special day. Hope you had a good thanksgiving. Thank you for sharing.
I think it’s so important to practice gratitude in any way you can — I think it puts things into perspective for a lot of us. Really informative post — thanks for sharing!
Living in the UK we don;t practice thanksgiving but it is important to practice gratitude daily.
This has made me think a bit today after a mad mad day! Need to sit back and thankful for what I have xx
I enjoyed the post! It’s so lovely. I have to practice gratitude more often because this can make me think about the good things when I’m having a bad day. Great content x
I loved reading this post! I always say that I’m going to start practicing gratitude and journaling but I haven’t gotten around to it yet. I’m definitely ordering a journal and starting in the new year now!
Oh I’m so pleased it’s inspired you x
What a lovely post . I try and be grateful every day x even though times are rubbish at the minute
I’ve found it’s really helped recently x
I think a list of 100 would definitely take me a long time too. Journals are such a great outlet for both getting your thoughts down and making you think about things.
It’s tough finding 100 but it was so good for the soil x
Soul even!
This was such a lovely read! I really need to get into journalling it would help me practise gratitude!
Amber | The Unpredicted Page
I love to journal it’s so therapeutic x
Practicing gratitude makes me appreciate all that I have and me what to do more for others. I feel richer when I am when I stop to think about all the people and things I’m grateful for. I’m sure I could come up with 100! Thank you for writing such a lovely post!
Thank you so much for reading. You’re so right x x
We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here however I am always aware of things I should be thankful for.
It’s really important to focus on x
Such a lovely post, Claire. I do keep a gratitude journal but I have to be honest, I don’t write in it every day. That said, when I do, I’m always struck afresh by how much I have to be thankful for. It’s a period of quiet reflection and it’s a moment I treasure. xx
Thank you Lisa. It is such a valuable thing to do, making time is hard though x
I love everything about this post, especially in 2020 when it feels like everything is blowing up everywhere we turn. I had never considered the difference between gratitude and being thankful before, so that was interesting to read.
Thank you Britt. I think we all need some time to reflect on this year that’s for sure x x