13 triggers to help you practice gratitude daily

practice gratitude daily
Photo by Gabrielle Henderson on Unsplash

in his book “atomic habits“, james clear says all our habits are based on triggers.
if we want our habits to sustain over time, we must link it to a trigger that sets that habit in motion. and so, below i have shared 13 triggers to help you practice gratitude daily.

recommend read: 6 habits to live a happy(er) life

gratitude practice in action

i’m getting ready for bed; 

i go to the washroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. 
as i open the tap, i express gratitude for the water i have available.
i express gratitude for the toothbrush, toothpaste, the face wash available to me so i can carry out these activities.  

as i am brushing my teeth, i think to myself, ”maybe i’ll watch some Ozark before sleeping.” 
i express gratitude for the technology i have available, the mobile device, the internet, the service providers because of which i can do what i plan to do. 

then, as i am changing into my night suit, i express gratitude for the clothes i have available to wear.

i go to my room, i get on my bed and i express gratitude for the air conditioner, the bed, the comforter i have available so i can sleep peacefully.

little things like these make me feel i am so blessed!
i don’t think these are little things though. 

enjoy the little things in life because one day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.

kurt vonnegut

13 triggers to practice gratitude

  1. when you wake up, be grateful to be alive to experience another day.
  2. when brushing your teeth, be grateful for your teeth, the toothbrush you have, the paste you’re brushing with. 
  3. when bathing/washing hands, be grateful for the water you have available. 
  4. when wearing clothes, be grateful that you have clothes to wear. be grateful for the people who made them, and the people who were involved in the supply chain. 
  5. when eating or drinking, be grateful for the food and beverage available to you.
  6. when you’re on the toilet, be grateful for your digestion system.
    our body carries out all the important tasks for us on autopilot, 24/7/365, so we can live the life we are living. imagine if we had to consciously breathe, pump blood, digest food, fight viruses, etc. we wouldn’t have been able to do anything else except carrying out the necessary body functions for our survival.
    but we don’t need to do any of that, so be grateful for your body and all that it does for you! (i usually do a body scan, from head to toe and give thanks to all the organs.)
  7. when travelling/commuting be grateful for the conveyance, the service providers, manufacturers of that automobile.  
  8. when you see an ambulance go by, take a moment to be grateful for your health!
  9. when you’re climbing stairs, be grateful for your motor skills, your spatial awareness, your balance, your eyesight. 
  10. when you’re using your phone/laptop/tv or any technology for that matter, be grateful that you have the money to have that technology available. be grateful for the manufacturers and service providers. 
  11. when you are purchasing goods and services, be grateful for the money available for you to make that purchase; be grateful for the manufacturer, service provider.
  12. when you’re listening to music, be grateful for your hearing. be grateful for the artists, people working in the music industry.
  13. when someone does something for you, be it your friends, family, colleague, helper, be grateful for them. 

bonus (start a gratitude jar)

set up a weekly reminder to note down things you are grateful for that week and put it in the gratitude jar. by the end of the year, you will be amazed at the abundance present in your life and the progress you have made.

i started maintaining a gratitude jar in 2020, and the unexpected happened (to all of us), the pandemic! 

in 2021, when i was about to review the gratitude jar, i was feeling hopeless and wondered what could there have been to be grateful for in the year we all went through a pandemic. i couldn’t have been more wrong. there was still SO MUCH to be grateful for. i was left speechless and with tears of joy when i went through all the notes in the gratitude jar. 

read my experience of my first year of maintaining a gratitude jar here.

resources

one book that helped me incorporate the habit of gratitude in my everyday life is the magic by Rhonda Byrne. 

i highly recommend this book to anyone wants to practice gratitude. — the book is designed in such a way that you read one chapter a day, for a month, and by the end of the month, i promise you, gratitude will be your second nature!

also, i invite you to check out


i hope these triggers remind you to practice gratitude 🙂 

peace and power to you

x

let us rise up and be thankful,
for if we didn’t learn a lot at least we learned a little,
and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick,
and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die;
so, let us all be thankful.

buddha
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