Practicing Gratitude

A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit. (Proverbs 15:13 NLT)

Practicing gratitude has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, worry, and fear. And not only that, but it improves negative conditions that link to these emotions, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, depression, and so on.

According to studies, writing down the things that you’re grateful for brings with it some pretty amazing benefits, like more happiness, better sleep, less loneliness, and fewer symptoms of illness.

 The thing that I love about it is that it reminds me of what God has done for me—about the many joys I have in my life.

 Keeping a gratitude journal helps you to think more about the good things. You realize how very special every day is, and how little things are wonderful things, and by stopping to remember and write them down, you notice more of them and appreciate them more.

 Being grateful for the good makes more good things happen. —P. Amsterdam [1]

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates vision for tomorrow. —Melody Beattie

[1]P. Amsterdam Anchor Gratitude in Action