Easy Ways To Cultivate Gratitude at Work and in Life

I always wanted my life to be an adventure, and for me, it’s meant taking a lot of risks. I had great moments of glamour and success, and I’ve also had low points, heartbreaks, and big failures.

Those lows and highs have helped me muscle up my gratitude a lot. I learned how to develop my gratitude muscle in a way where even in the darkest moments when nothing makes sense, and all is lost, I can still feel appreciation and joy.

This is a state you can cultivate that helps you lower stress and feel safe in all circumstances. It also helps build trust with yourself, your most important relationship of all.

Gratitude is the willingness for appreciation and a readiness to return kindness.

Gratitude has been scientifically proven to improve happiness, as well as mental and physical health.

So what do you say? Want to flex that muscle and ignite joy? Here are three tips:

TIP 01: Prioritize Gratitude

When you wake up in the morning, name five things you are grateful for before getting out of bed or looking at your phone. Feel joy doing it. If you are willing to name them out loud, your muscle gets a boost. Could you name five things right now? Here are mine:

• 1 – I am grateful for being alive and another day on earth
• 2 – I am grateful for feeling safe and warm
• 3 – I am gratful for my health, always
• 4 – I am grateful for the relationships in my life
• 5 – I am grateful for food, it brings me so much joy

TIP 02: Tell at least one colleague a day you are grateful for them

Demonstrating gratitude has been proven to be the number one trust-building attitude. Wow, let me read that again.

That means that when you show gratitude to someone, you are sparking trust in the relationship. And trust is one of the most underrated elements in our work-life happiness, did you know that? Some industries, like the military, track trust and consider it one of their big pillars. Have you ever stopped and analyzed the level of trust in your team?

So don’t wait. Show your colleagues gratitude now.

If you are interested in the topic of trust in the workplace, I recommend you listen to this short podcast episode.

PS: Telling people you are grateful for them works wonders in your personal life too.

TIP 03: Use it as a shield from negativity

Listen, we cannot quiet the sound of the world. There will always be people being rude, condescending, not telling you what you want to hear. But when people interact with us in this way, we don’t have to absorb their energy. When things are uncomfortable, that’s when our gratitude muscle is most relevant!

So when you have an interaction that makes you feel triggered, sad, undervalued: try to take a step back and think about one of your five gratitude elements for the day, and feel joy. The more you work out your gratitude muscle by applying Tip 01, the easier it will be for you to step back from negativity and focus on your own energy.

Try to apply these three tips for three days in a row and see how it feels.

If you have other tips on enhancing gratitude, let me know in the comments!

Love,

Virginie