The GoalTribe Blog

What more juice, joy and happiness in your life? Then focus on gratitude. Research by Dr. Martin Seligman, one of the founders of Positive Psychology, has found that simple exercises that boost your gratitude also greatly increase your happiness, optimism, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy. And the boost can last for weeks. That’s some pay off! Here are his 2 techniques, plus 1 bonus method:

1. Keep a Gratitude Journal

Simply take a few minutes at least 4 times a week to jot down a couple of things you’re grateful for that day. That’s it! In studies, people who kept it up for at least a few weeks saw meaningful improvements in their gratitude and happiness. You might keep a notebook by your bed and journal each morning or evening.

2. Write a Gratitude Letter

Think of someone in your life who has helped you in some way. It could be a family member, teacher, coworker, friend, mentor, neighbor or someone else. Write a letter them expressing in concrete terms what your are grateful for about. When you’re ready, deliver the letter - in person if possible. This method not only improves your happiness, but also the happiness of the recipient. To see a really nice blog post on this subject that will realy inspire you (it inspired me to write this post!), see Turning Gratitude Inside Out on The Change Blog.

3. Take a Gratitude Walk

Take a walk outside and just start listing off all the things you see that you’re grateful for: the sunshine, the birds, smiling people, city services, airplanes that can carry you through the sky, shoes, the food that’s powering your journey, your eyes that let you see everything. In your mind say “I’m SOO GRATEFUL for ….” Be really enthusiastic. Say it outload if you can. Thank people directly if you’ve got the guts “I’m SO grateful for your beautiful flower bed Mrs. Beasley!” Walk tall, breath deep and wear as big a smile as you dare. Do that and you’ll be exercising at least half a dozen different powerful techniques for boosting your joy for the whole day, much less your gratitude.

The trick to go from showering joy on your week to showering joy on your whole life is doing one or more of these practices consistently until it becomes a lifelong habit of happiness and gratitude. And of course, you guessed it, the best way to do that is to set a GoalTribe goal to write in your journal, or send a gratitude letter a certain number of times a week so you get the reminders, you get the social support and you get the joy of being celebrated by your allies as you make progress!