Thanksgiving has come and gone and now we’re in the frenzied days leading up to Christmas. While it’s common to focus on gratitude at Thanksgiving, it’s useful year round. This year, our pandemic-delayed-Thanksgiving made gratitude come easier for those able to gather for the holiday.

‘Tis always the season for gratitude

If you want the heightened sense of gratitude to last longer all you need to do is to exercise it and, the best way to do that is to build it into your habit. (see The Power of Habit) Begin by treating gratitude as a verb and not just a noun. Make it actionable rather than just a concept. Help it grow by putting your feelings of thankfulness in writing. Record what you are thankful for in a journal. Or share your gratitude in a thank you note, not just for a gift, but for no specific reason. A thank you note ‘just because’.

How to exercise gratitude

A recent column written by Tish Harrison Warren titled, “Five Ways to Exercise Your Thankfulness Muscles” supports my feelings on this topic. In it, she talk about thankfulness as a muscle that needs to be exercised. (Verb, not just a noun!) She suggests exercising gratitude through acts that go beyond the compulsory thank you notes that come with weddings, new babies and the death of a loved one.

Her first suggestion on exercising gratitude is to keep lists of all the good things that happened to you. To recognize these experiences as ‘gifts’ for which you are thankful. Her second is to write notes of thanks for the good experience that comes as a result of someone else’s involvement in your life. Even if this note of thanks is never delivered, it’s a good way to develop the habit. You can read the entire column here:

Take time to say thank you in writing to the friends and family who surround you. One year, I wrote short daily notes of thanks to my husband for a month or so and found that the deliberate practice actually made me feel more grateful over time. 

Tish Harrison Warren

Gratitude is felt most by the giver and receiver when words are put to paper

A feeling of gratitude can grow exponentially when put to paper. What is more valuable to you? A thank you expressed in a text or a hand written note that you received in the mail? The value comes in the effort, in being deliberate. Our phones and computers have made it easy to quickly send messages. I would argue that we’re losing something with that speed and efficiency. We’re losing the true meaning of gratitude. The time it takes to put your thoughts into words is time well spent reflecting on just the right way to convey your feelings. It’s time that enriches your feeling of gratitude. A feeling that grows with time and effort.

Let’s keep passing around gratitude throughout the year. We can never be too full.