It doesn’t matter if you’re having a hard time or if things are going brilliant knowing how to practice gratitude is something you really should know, as well as actually do it.

It’s easy to get stuck in the moment, bogged down in a bad situation and start cursing your life. It’s also easy for me to say you should practice gratitude if you are having a bad time, I’m not the one going through it.

Practicing gratitude is not something that comes naturally to anybody, the only people that appear to do it are the ones that have had some severe adversity and it gives them an appreciation for when things are going okay.

We become very overwhelmed and have a razor sharp awareness for what we lose when things go wrong. This includes simple things like breathing clearly when you have a cold, some free time when the kids are on holiday or the Internet when it is offline. I know, I’ve cursed my internet many times when its unavailable even for a few seconds.

Appreciate what we have, that’s how we should practice gratitude.

So let’s have a few tips.

• Write or do a mental list every morning of a few things you are grateful for. More details practice gratitude
• When you do something routine just pause and think you are grateful the kettle works when you want a coffee.
• Ask what you can learn from a bad situation.
• Keep a gratitude journal, this one takes discipline but by far the best option if it is daily.
• Just be damned grateful when anybody does anything for you, even the things.

This all might seem obvious but how often do you actually practice gratitude?

Article exercise: Pick one of the five tips above and do it for 7 days.