The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced many restrictions into our daily lives and it’s incredibly easy to focus on all the things we can no longer do or enjoy. While finding it within yourself to feel grateful may seem counter-intuitive right now, choosing to adopt an attitude of gratitude can actually help you deal with crises better.

As Robert Emmons, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and author of several books on gratitude explains, “it is precisely under crisis conditions when we have the most to gain by a grateful perspective on life. In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal. In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope. In other words, gratitude can help us cope with hard times.”

What is gratitude?
While the Cambridge Dictionary describes gratitude as simply “the feeling or quality of being grateful”, Emmons, who has conducted extensive research into the subject, over many years, goes far deeper: “I believe that gratitude is the best approach to life. When life is going well, it allows us to celebrate and magnify the goodness. When life is going badly, it provides a perspective by which we can view life in its entirety and not be overwhelmed by temporary experiences. And this is what grateful people do. They have learned to transform adversity into opportunity no matter what happens, to see existence itself as a gift.” 

Are there real benefits to practising gratitude?
Several studies have investigated the benefits of gratitude, many of them conducted by Emmons himself. In an article for Psychology Today, clinical social worker, psychotherapist and author, Amy Morin, identifies the following seven scientifically backed benefits of this approach to life:

• Gratitude opens the door to more relationships.
• Gratitude improves physical health.
• Gratitude improves psychological health.
• Gratitude enhances empathy and reduces aggression.
• Grateful people sleep better.
• Gratitude improves self-esteem.
• Gratitude increases mental strength. 

If you’d like to enjoy these benefits in your life, here are three simple ways you can start practising gratitude today.

1. Keep a gratitude journal
This is one of the most popular ways to introduce or increase a sense of gratitude in your life. How often you choose to write in your gratitude journal is entirely up to you – it could be once a day or once a week – but whatever you decide, aim, with each entry, to include at least three things you’re grateful for.

2. Write a letter of gratitude
This is a wonderful way to recognise and encourage those people who make a difference in your life – everyone from your family and friends to your carer or the manager at your retirement village. Make mention of the qualities you admire in the person you’re writing to and be specific about the impact they have on your life.

3. Pay attention to the little things
Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk who has written several books on the subject of gratitude, points out that “we have thousands of opportunities every day to be grateful: for having good weather, to have slept well last night, to be able to get up, to be healthy, to have enough to eat.” During the course of your day, be mindful of all those little things that together give you so much to be grateful for. You may even want to jot some of them down on a slip of paper and place them into a gratitude jar which you can dip into when you’re feeling down.