Mental Health Awareness Month: Finding Gratitude, Even When You Struggle
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and this year Twinings is partnering with Positive Psychology practitioner and Holistic Wellness Expert Darlene Marshall to share simple practices that build mental wellbeing.
For many people, developing mental health and wellbeing skills takes practice, but practicing positive emotions can feel strange. When we feel overwhelmed, burnout, or stressed these practices can feel even more awkward. You’ve likely heard of the benefits of gratitude practice - improving stress management, building stronger relationships, and even boosting creative thinking and productivity. But even wellness experts can sometimes struggle. That’s because so often we tell ourselves what we should be feeling. That we should be grateful or happier, but then those ideas are not connecting back to authentic, positive emotions. When that happens, you might be connecting with a sense of obligation instead of an authentic feeling of gratitude.
The benefits of gratitude practice come not from a list of “shoulds”, but from feeling the emotion and experiencing its restorative effects on the nervous system.
Practicing Authentic Gratitude
Here’s a series of journal prompts you can use as a small step to build more authentic gratitude and wellbeing:
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Think of something in your life - no matter how big or small - that benefits you, but that you didn’t do or create. This could be something kind a loved one does, a fantastic meal you didn’t cook, or anything that benefits you that comes from outside of you. Journal about what it is in as rich a detail as you can describe it, including who made it happen for you.
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Think of a time you felt truly grateful. Like all emotions, gratitude is felt in the body. Learning to recognize gratitude can help you savour and connect more deeply when opportunities for gratitude arise. Journal about where you felt truly grateful in your body and how it felt.
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Think of the last time you were in nature. Nature provides an opportunity for self-transcendence and connecting to places, spaces, ideas, and experiences greater than yourself. Journal about where you were, what you observed, and what about being in nature you can appreciate.
- By definition, gratitude is experiencing something beneficial that you didn’t create. One way to practice gratitude is by paying it forward. In your journal create a list of ways you can pay appreciation and gratitude forward, benefitting someone else in your life. As a bonus, consider making an anonymous act of kindness, as research shows a little mystery heightens wellbeing.
Be sure to check out our other posts from this month for more simple practices that can help build mental wellbeing.
