Living in the present moment is one of the most challenging things for us to do. Moving towards health is an ongoing journey, where our past choices are represented in our current health reality. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the past, focusing our energy on how what we’ve done hasn’t gotten us to our desired outcome yet. It’s also easy to worry about the future, and wonder if the work we’re putting in will ever be worth it. 

Balancing the present moment with working towards improvements in our health is a delicate dance, and one of the best practices I’ve found to help navigate this dance smoothly is gratitude. 

Gratitude is the quality of being thankful, and to show appreciation for what we have. It is an action we must actively take, and is not something that just magically happens. Practicing gratitude takes work, and this is why it’s often talked about, but not often do people actually do it. It’s also easy to question, can being thankful or showing appreciation actually make me healthier? 

According to research out of the Netherlands, practicing gratitude for 15 minutes per day over the course of six weeks leads to significant improvements in mental well-being. According to this particular study, practicing gratitude for six weeks can lead to up to six months of improvement in perspective on life. 

Another review of research published in the Journal for Positive Psychology showed both improvements in sleep quality and decreases in sleep disturbances following two weeks of gratitude journaling compared to those who did not participate. Other benefits found include improvements in heart health, decreasing the force required between beats on those who practice gratitude regularly. 

While these are just a few examples of improvements that can be found across research, your own experience could include more benefits. For example, I find that practicing gratitude almost immediately decreases thoughts of stress and anxiousness. If I intentionally focus on thinking about things that are going well in my life, I can feel my body relax physically, which then helps my mind slow down as well. It helps me think more clearly and make better decisions. 

Practicing gratitude helps me stay in the present moment because when my brain is busy thinking about what is going well, there is no room for it to ruminate on the past or worry about the future. While it may feel as if it’s impossible to get your brain to stop, our brains will focus on whatever we tell them to. If we don’t give them direction, they will choose a direction of their own. Sometimes my practice looks like thinking the thoughts in my head or saying them out loud, and sometimes it includes writing them down.

However you choose to practice gratitude, I encourage you to do it. Just a few minutes per day can lead to great improvements in your mental and physical well-being.

Xoxo

Coach Maggi