For the last couple of years, gratitude has become a buzzword. But what’s so magical about gratitude?

When I first heard about being grateful for what I had it made sense to me. Even when I took things for granted there was so much to be thankful for. Being alive, being healthy, and having a home, a family, friends, and food on the table just to mention a few.

When I first started using gratitude intentionally. It was hard for me to get in the mood of appreciation especially to “feel the feeling of gratitude”.

I used to read about it and try different ways, but it was really hard for me to get in the attitude of gratitude.

I would get started with a gratitude journal, but then I would get impatient or too tired and just stop writing it.

Would start my morning by being grateful. But my mind would soon wander off and I would forget my new morning routine.

Then something happened and I knew that things couldn’t continue the way they did.

I needed a change and decided to get dedicated.

Knowing if I wanted to turn my life around I needed to do things I hadn’t done before.

The first thing I did was to start making a gratitude list of five things to be grateful for every night. Regardless of what I was doing, how sleepy or tired I was, I always wrote my list. That has been the best thing I have ever done.

Since I started being grateful, I breathe better. It has been a big part of my life and I feel that it has changed me.

Below are some of the changes I experienced and tools I used to get started, and continually use to be in the energy of gratitude, here goes.

One: Gratitude list

Since I started working with self-improvement, I have been writing gratitude lists. Not continuously, but I always go back to it.

It makes me feel better. I’m more aware of all the things I have to be grateful for and all the good things that are to come into my life.

I feel that being grateful for things to come, makes them materialize faster. That helps me focus more on my tasks and towards my goals.

Every night before bedtime I remember to write my gratitude list, so when I go to sleep at night. I’m in a state of gratitude. When I wake up I’m still in that state of gratitude.

Two: My Vision Board

Another way to stay in the appreciative feeling is to have a vision board.

On my vision board, I have cutouts of the goals that I want to achieve.

I always start my vision board with. “I’m so happy and grateful now that”… and put down the statements that I would like to work with, beside my goals.

Then I put it somewhere, where I can always see it. It makes me happy and grateful for the things that I have achieved and the things that are about to come.

An example is that every time we want to go on vacation.

We put the month and year on a piece of paper like “September 2022”. Then put it up on our door, which is visible from the living room and bedroom and just let it be.

As a direct result of this. We always travel during that period, regardless of how our situation looks.

If you don’t know what a vision board is or how to make it, you learn more in the link, here.

Gratitude brings Happiness 

I have noticed that I’m happier and more at ease right from the get-go. Since I implemented my routine of gratitude lists and Vision Board.

Even after a rough night with children, where we are awake and stay awake for a couple of hours. I still feel energized and content. There is just this feeling that regardless of whatever everything will be sorted out.

It has not always been like that. I have been very overanalyzing and overthinking things. Always looked at the worst-case scenario. But by being grateful it is harder, if not impossible for me to be miserable or think that way.

Knowing everything happens for a reason and whenever things are taking a bad turn, there is something good coming along as well.

Four: Appreciating close relationships

Even though I have been surrounded by a wonderful family and a lot of amazing friends. I always felt outside, like I didn’t fit in.

I have always looked at it as a negative thing like something was missing.

Gratitude has taught me that it is okay not to always fit in and it’s okay to be different. Accepting this has made me appreciate my close relationships more:

* like my amazing kids, whose pure existence makes me happy and grateful to my core whenever I see or think about them.

* My incredible husband, my best friend. I don’t know what I did to deserve him, he loves and supports me regardless of what I throw myself into.

* My lovely parents, my father who came to Copenhagen. Lived on the main station for the first period because he didn’t have a place to stay.

My mom came later and moved in with my father in a two-room apartment he shared with a friend. Both were young of age giving up their friends and leaving their families. To come to a whole new place, a new country with such a different and difficult language, to give their family a better life.

They went out and got jobs not knowing the language. They worked their whole lives to give us a good life and make sure we got educated. I’m eternally grateful for their sacrifice, which has given us the lives we live today.

* My supportive sisters, I remember when I first thought about starting my blog and my life as a writer. One of my concerns was, what would people think about my pursuit and what would my sisters think?

Only positive things have come out of it, the support I have gotten from them is overwhelming, and I’m really grateful for that.

* My unbelievable friends, that has stood by me in thick and thin. Always keep believing in me through my struggles, and I’m eternally grateful for the fact that I am surrounded by this kind of love and support.

Five: What are you grateful for today?

One day out walking and listening to my audio tape, a thought came to mind. Since we moved into our new apartment 3 years ago, we have had an empty wall space in the hallway, and we couldn’t seem to find something to put there.

I thought why not put up a sign which says ” What are you grateful for today?” in English, Danish, and Swedish, the three main languages spoken in our home.

Every time I pass the wall, I’m thinking about what I’m grateful for. It creates such an amazing energy in the house and keeps us in the attitude of gratitude.

So there you have it. If some of these things have inspired you to make a change in your life or use some of these tools. Start today, don’t wait.

When you start with gratitude, it changes everything.