Benefits of Gratitude

Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness, from the Latin word gratus ‘pleasing, thankful’, is a feeling of appreciation felt by and/or similar positive response shown by the recipient of kindness, gifts, help, favors, or other types of generosity, towards the giver of such gifts.

Adopting a grateful attitude can impact almost every aspect of your life in a positive way – your relationships, your mood, your job satisfaction, your health and so on.

Gratitude can help you put a positive spin on stressful times and turn them into valuable lessons. In positive psychology research, gratitude is consistently linked to greater measures of happiness.

Some of the most incredible benefits of gratitude include that it can:

Help people create healthy habits
Boost happiness and peace of mind
Increase resiliency and empathy
Enable individuals to achieve financial goals
Allow for better sleep
Open the door to more relationships
Enhance mental strength and self-esteem

20 Thought-Provoking Questions About Gratitude

Now that we’ve talked about the benefits of gratitude, let’s get into some thought-provoking gratitude questions for your daily journal:

What aspects of your city or neighborhood are you grateful for?
What have others done in your life that you’re grateful for?
Who is someone that really listens when you talk, and how does that affect you?
What’s a stressor you’re grateful to have put behind you this year?
How many of your basic needs do you not have to worry about meeting today?
What’s the best thing about your home, and have you taken the time to enjoy it recently?
Have you had a chance to help someone recently, and how did that make you feel?
What’s something you look forward to in the future?
What’s something enjoyable you get to experience every day that you’ve come to take for granted?
What’s a hard lesson that you were grateful to learn?
What about today has been better than yesterday?
What’s an aspect of your physical health that you feel grateful for?
What happened today/yesterday/this week/this month/this year that you’re grateful for?
What’s an aspect of your personality that you’re grateful for?
How have you used your talents recently, and what have you enjoyed about doing that?
What relationships are you grateful for?
What’s one thoughtful thing someone did for you recently?
What’s an aspect of how you were parented for which you feel grateful?
What’s one thing you’ve enjoyed about doing your job recently?
What made you laugh or smile today?