“A moment of gratitude makes a difference in your attitude.”-Bruce Wilkerson Sometimes it’s hard to feel thankful when you’re overwhelmed by work, struggling with anxiety, and dealing with family arguments. This often gets worse at this time of year as we begin preparing for the holidays and dealing with old issues.  With that in mind, here are some gratitude practices you can begin doing that will make you feel happier and saner this season.

• Keep a gratitude journal-Write down what you are thankful for each day. Be specific about what you are grateful for. Sometimes, it helps to focus on one thing instead of several, and then write a few sentences about why it is so important to you.
• Write Actual Thank You Notes- Writing a thank you note has become a lost art so imagine the joy on someone’s face if they opened an actual handwritten note from you. Take the time to thank your loved ones not just for physical gifts, but for the important influence they’ve had in your life.
• Share the Positive-Last year, one of my cousins turned 50, and we all bought her a framed poster with the “50 Things we loved about her.” Each person in our family submitted at least three things we loved about her and now she’ll always have that keepsake. Imagine if we took the time to tell our family what they mean to us more often—there might not be as many hurt feelings.
• Do Kind Things for Others- While you can volunteer at a nursing home or a pet shelter, there are numerous things you can do daily to help pay it forward. For example, you can help someone at the grocery store load their groceries onto the register. You can bring a sick neighbor some homemade soup. One of my favorites is to bring a dog to the local retirement home. Those furry friends cheer those folks right up.
• Remember your blessings-Ask yourself if you have the basic things like a warm home, water and food, and remember some don’t even have that.
• Find the good in the bad-As Dr. K told Jack Pearson on This is Us, “You need to make lemonade out of lemons,” meaning you need to find the good even in the worst moment. This allows you to grow to be grateful for the chance to grow stronger because of it.

These are just a few ways to practice gratitude. We’ll be discussing the theme of gratitude much more this month. If you need assistance on staying sane through the holidays, please contact us at (510) 949-8668.