通过为期 5 天的感恩挑战提升您的心情

(CNN)One-time efforts to celebrate gratitude, like Thanksgiving, undeniably make us feel good. Practicing gratitude can increase feelings of happiness and life satisfaction while decreasing depressive symptoms, many studies have shown. To keep experiencing gratitude's mood-boosting benefits, you should make practicing thankfulness a consistent part of your daily life.

That said, you don't need a daily turkey dinner with all the fixings to be grateful. It's more about exercising your gratitude muscles in your everyday routine through simple activities that cultivate and express thankfulness.

Like any skill worth mastering, gratitude takes practice to realize its full potential. Scientists have found that daily doses of gratitude deliver benefits beyond feelings of happiness, extending to enhanced relationships, self-esteem and overall life satisfaction.

To start sharpening your gratitude skill and begin making it an ongoing practice, try my five-day gratitude challenge. Here's how to begin.

Day 1: Begin focusing on your 5 senses

Too often people focus their gratitude on the material things that they associate with status, like a fancy car or piece of clothing. Being glad you have those items isn't necessarily a bad thing, but materialism has been linked in research to lower life satisfaction and a diminished ability to actually feel grateful. To keep focused on the simplest yet profoundly valuable aspects of our lives, we begin our challenge by showing gratitude for one of our five senses: our sight.

On a pad of paper or in a journal, finish this prompt:

Today, I am grateful for these three things I saw ....

Your answers can be as simple as: my own reflection in the mirror, my significant other and the sunset. Maybe you had an experience today that made you grateful for your sight and awareness, like seeing the neighbor's dog running loose near the road and alerting your neighbor before something tragic happened.

Every day during the challenge, take time each evening to write down three reasons you were grateful for one of your five senses that day.

Day 2: Cultivate thankfulness with each breath

Want to feel grateful? Take a breath, or in this case, 10 breaths.

We all know that without breath, there is no life. That's a great reason to be thankful.

To cultivate that sense of gratitude for our ability to live and breathe, practice this easy 10-breath gratitude meditation, following the simple instructions below:

Sit comfortably with your feet on the floor and your eyes closed. Let your hands rest in your lap or place them on your lower ribs like in this video:

Close your eyes and begin breathing in and out of your nose, lengthening and deepening your breath to a pace that feels comfortable and sustainable for you. As you establish your long, deep breath, spend a minute thinking about the miracle of your breath and how it literally fills your body with life.

When you're ready, on your next inhale imagine a color you associate with feelings of gratefulness and let it fill your mind's eye as you fill your lungs with air.

As you exhale, imagine that color and sense of gratefulness spreading down through your neck, chest and torso and out your limbs, disappearing as you finish your exhale.

Silently count the number "one" in your head.

Repeat this same visualization, synchronized with each breath, until you complete a count of 10 breaths.

For your five-senses gratitude practice for the day, finish this prompt:

Today, I am grateful for these three things I touched/felt ....

Day 3: Reflect on the gifts of hardship

There is no question that life can be challenging, as things don't always turn out the way we'd hoped. Unfortunately, all of us experience adversity and suffering at different points in our lives. It may seem difficult to reflect on challenging times and find a reason to be grateful, but in making our pain purposeful, we can find meaning in the experience.

In Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl's book "Man's Search for Meaning," he wrote, "The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity -- even under the most difficult circumstances -- to add a deeper meaning to his life."

For today's gratitude practice, take a page from Frankl's book and reflect on a particularly difficult time in your life that you perceive as a tragedy, failure or mistake. Identify three things that came out of that experience that you can truly appreciate.

Remember to also keep up with your five-senses gratitude focus by finishing this prompt:

Today, I am grateful for these three things I heard today ....

Day 4: Express gratitude to others in writing

Who are three people in your life that you truly appreciate?

Send each of them a quick but considerate correspondence in the form of a handwritten note, email or even a thoughtfully composed text. Remind them of why they are special to you and how worthwhile they are in the world. As a result of your effort, those on the receiving end will experience the mood-boosting benefits of being appreciated.

They won't be the only beneficiaries; writing letters of gratitude has a positive effect on the author, increasing feelings of happiness and perceived life satisfaction while decreasing depression, studies have shown.

Don't forget to also write down three things for your five-senses gratitude prompt:

Today, I am grateful for these three things I tasted ....

Day 5: Notice and appreciate the small stuff

An important aspect of practicing gratitude regularly is becoming aware of opportunities throughout your day to express gratitude. Today, notice and verbally acknowledge at least two times that someone provided a service or imparted a small act of kindness toward you.

Whether it's service providers, coworkers, friends or family, there are many people in our lives who take action to meet our needs. These acts could be a delivery person bringing a package to your door, a coworker offering assistance at work or your significant other getting you a coffee. Once you start recognizing their efforts, you can do better at consistently showing your appreciation and responding in kind.

What's more, studies have shown that the benefits of thankfulness extend to both the giver and receiver. This can be especially true in romantic relationships, in which experiencing and expressing gratitude for little things increase feelings of connectedness and relationship satisfaction, according to research.

Finally, finish off your five-senses gratitude practice by focusing on your sense of smell. This one is sometimes a little more challenging because it requires you to really notice the positive aromas in your environment as opposed to the negative smells, where we too often put our attention.

Finish this prompt:

Today, I am grateful for these three things I smelled ....

Enjoy the shift in perspective and keep practicing daily

Once you finish the challenge, hopefully you'll be inspired by the mood-boosting benefits you experienced and elicited for others throughout the last five days and continue actively practicing gratitude on a daily basis going forward.

通过为期 5 天的感恩挑战提升您的心情

(CNN) 一次努力庆祝感恩节，就像感恩节一样，不可否认地让我们感觉良好。许多研究表明，练习感恩可以增加幸福感和生活满意度，同时减少抑郁症状。为了继续体验感恩的情绪提升好处，你应该让练习感恩成为你日常生活的一部分。

也就是说，你不需要每天吃一顿火鸡大餐就能心存感激。更多的是在日常生活中通过培养和表达感恩的简单活动来锻炼你的感恩肌。

就像任何值得掌握的技能一样，感恩需要练习才能充分发挥其潜力。科学家们发现，每天感恩的剂量不仅能带来幸福感，还能增强人际关系、自尊和整体生活满意度。

要开始提高您的感恩技巧并开始持续练习，请尝试我的为期五天的感恩挑战。这是开始的方法。

第 1 天：开始专注于您的 5 种感官

人们常常把感激之情放在与地位相关的物质上，比如一辆高档汽车或一件衣服。为你拥有这些东西感到高兴并不一定是件坏事，但在研究中，唯物主义与降低生活满意度和真正感恩的能力降低有关。为了继续关注我们生活中最简单但又极具价值的方面，我们首先要对我们的五种感官之一表示感谢：我们的视觉。

在便笺簿或日记本上，完成以下提示：

今天，我很感激我看到的这三件事......

你的答案可以很简单：镜子里的我自己、我的另一半和日落。也许您今天的经历让您对自己的视力和意识心存感激，例如看到邻居的狗在马路附近乱跑，并在悲剧发生之前提醒邻居。

在挑战期间的每一天，每天晚上花时间写下您对当天五种感官中的一种感到感激的三个原因。

第 2 天：每一次呼吸都培养感恩之心

想要心存感激吗？深呼吸，或者在这种情况下，呼吸 10 次。

我们都知道，没有呼吸就没有生命。这是一个值得感谢的好理由。

为了培养对我们生活和呼吸能力的感激之情，请按照以下简单说明练习这个简单的 10 次呼吸感恩冥想：

舒适地坐着，双脚放在地板上，闭上眼睛。让您的手放在膝盖上或放在下肋骨上，如视频所示：

闭上你的眼睛，开始用鼻子吸气和呼气，延长和加深你的呼吸，让你感觉舒适和可持续。当你开始深呼吸时，花一分钟思考你呼吸的奇迹，以及它如何让你的身体充满生命。

当你准备好后，在你下一次吸气时想象一种你与感激之情相关联的颜色，让它充满你的心灵，就像你的肺充满空气一样。

当你呼气时，想象那种颜色和感激之情从你的脖子、胸部和躯干蔓延到你的四肢，随着你呼气而消失。

默默地数着脑海中的“一”。

重复相同的可视化，与每次呼吸同步，直到完成 10 次呼吸的计数。

对于当天的五感感恩练习，请完成以下提示：

今天，我很感激这三件我所感动/感受到的......

第 3 天：反思苦难的恩赐

毫无疑问，生活充满挑战，因为事情并不总是如我们所愿。不幸的是，我们所有人在生活的不同阶段都会经历逆境和痛苦。反思充满挑战的时代并找到感恩的理由似乎很难，但通过使我们的痛苦有目的，我们可以在经历中找到意义。

在大屠杀幸存者维克多·弗兰克 (Viktor Frankl) 的著作《人类寻找意义》中，他写道：“一个人接受命运的方式及其带来的所有苦难，他背起十字架的方式，给了他充足的机会——甚至在最困难的情况下——为他的生活增添更深层次的意义。”

对于今天的感恩练习，请从 Frankl 的书中翻阅一页，并反思您生活中一个特别困难的时期，该时期您认为是悲剧、失败或错误。确定从那次经历中产生的三件你可以真正欣赏的事情。

记住通过完成这个提示来跟上你的五感感恩焦点：

今天，我很感激今天听到的这三件事......

第 4 天：以书面形式表达对他人的感谢

在你的生活中，你真正欣赏的三个人是谁？

以手写便条、电子邮件或什至经过深思熟虑的文本的形式向他们每个人发送快速但体贴的信件。提醒他们为什么他们对你很特别，他们在这个世界上有多么值得。由于您的努力，接收方的人将体验到被欣赏所带来的提振情绪的好处。

他们不会是唯一的受益者；研究表明，写感谢信对作者有积极影响，增加幸福感和生活满意度，同时减少抑郁症。

不要忘记为你的五感感恩提示写下三件事：

今天，我很感激我尝到的这三样东西......

第 5 天：注意并欣赏小东西

定期练习感恩的一个重要方面是在一天中意识到表达感恩的机会。今天，至少两次注意并口头承认有人为您提供了服务或对您做出了一点善意的举动。

无论是服务提供者、同事、朋友还是家人，我们生活中都有很多人采取行动来满足我们的需求。这些行为可能是送货员将包裹送到您家门口、同事在工作中提供帮助或您的另一半为您提供咖啡。一旦你开始认可他们的努力，你就可以更好地持续表达你的欣赏和善意的回应。

更重要的是，研究表明，感恩的好处延伸到给予者和接受者。根据研究，在恋爱关系中尤其如此，在这种关系中，体验和表达对小事的感激会增加联系感和关系满意度。

最后，通过专注于你的嗅觉来结束你的五感官感恩练习。这个有时更具挑战性，因为它需要您真正注意环境中的积极气味，而不是我们经常关注的消极气味。

完成这个提示：

今天，我很感激我闻到的这三样东西......

享受视角的转变，每天坚持练习

一旦你完成了挑战，希望你会受到过去五天中你为他人体验和带来的提升情绪的好处的启发，并继续每天积极地练习感恩。