6. Express yourself

Sometimes it’s not enough to simply keep your gratitude to yourself. You can increase your feelings of gratitude by expressing that same gratitude to the people you care about.

Soul Pancake, a group that works to discover the “science of happiness,” ran an experiment where they encouraged people to write a letter to a person they were grateful for. By itself, this exercise increased their levels of happiness from 2 to 4%. However, when the same people made a phone call to the person they were thankful for to express their gratitude directly, happiness levels jumped from 4% to 19%.

Not only does expressing your gratitude for someone make their day a little brighter, but it can do wonders for increasing your own levels of gratitude and happiness in the long run

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2016/07/08/8-ways-to-have-more-gratitude-every-day/

Positive people are able to give themselves direction and momentum to start new tasks.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people

Failure is an option. If a positive person fails, they try to see it as a learning experience.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people

Instead of continually pushing themselves when they know they need a break, positive people pace themselves. That means they can rest up and try again just as hard a little later.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people

5. Volunteer

For many people, the key to having more gratitude is to give back to others in their local community.

Not only will it make you more grateful for the things that you may take for granted, but studies have shown that volunteering for the purpose of helping others increases our own well-being, and thus our ability to have more gratitude.

University of Pennsylvania professor, Martin Seligman, supports this theory with his research in Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being.

After testing all kinds of variables that help improve our well-being, he found that volunteering is the single most reliable way to momentarily increase your well-being.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2016/07/08/8-ways-to-have-more-gratitude-every-day/

Not only do positive people get enough sleep, but they sleep well. They definitely reap these sleep benefits.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people

4. Keep a gratitude journal

After your mindfulness session, write down your positive thoughts! Keeping a journal of all of the things you are thankful for can help you keep track of and refer back to the positives in your life.

Write down your positive thoughts to further focus your attention on the subject.

While you are putting the pen to paper, you have no choice but to consciously think about the words you are writing without other distracting, ungrateful thoughts.

You can journal every day after your gratitude practice, or you can come back to the journal on a regular schedule weekly or monthly.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2016/07/08/8-ways-to-have-more-gratitude-every-day/

Positive people spread their positivity around by cheering their friends, family, and co-workers on when they know they’re attempting to reach a goal or going through a hard time.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people

3. Practice mindfulness

Sit down daily and think through five to ten things you are grateful for. The trick is that you need to picture it in your mind and sit with that feeling of gratitude in your body. Doing this every day will rewire your brain to be naturally more grateful, and you’ll start feeling happier after every session.

It only takes eight weeks of gratitude practice for people to start showing changed brain patterns that lead to greater empathy and happiness.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/womensmedia/2016/07/08/8-ways-to-have-more-gratitude-every-day/

Positive people have a good work-life balance. That means that even though they’re busy, they make time for people who care about them.

https://www.theactivetimes.com/healthy-living/30-habits-positive-people