Oprah once acknowledged that “being grateful all the time isn’t easy”, but also expressed her certainty that gratitude is the “quickest, easiest most powerful way to effect change in your life”. 

Okay, now that you are fuelled with some inspirational words from Oprah, you are all set to discover the incredible benefits associated with counting one’s blessings!

Don’t believe me? Gratitude interventions have previously been found to:

• Improve subjective happiness and life satisfaction

• Reduce depressive symptoms

• Improve sleep duration and length

• Increase physical exercise and reduce physical symptoms

• Reduce stress

• Increase the likelihood of making progress towards personal goals

• Increase levels of alertness, attentiveness and energy

One theory to explain why experiencing gratitude is so powerful is because it counteracts our negative bias, which is the tendency to notice the negative things in our lives more than those which are positive. 

Counteracting this bias using gratitude interventions can change the way we perceive the world around us and therefore have healing effects on our mental and physical health.

To prepare for your gratitude-based audio journal entry, take as much time as you need to really develop a sense of what you feel thankful for. When you are ready simply talk about three or more things you feel grateful for and why, in as much detail as possible.

If you feel stuck, here are four categories for inspiration:

1. An old relationship that helped you a lot

2. An opportunity you have had today

3. Something good/great that happened yesterday

4. Something simple near you

Try audio journaling yourself with Journify’s brand new app! Download free for iOS or Android today.

About the author:

Katie Talbot is Journify’s resident psychology guru, mindfulness fan and yoga enthusiast based in Edinburgh, UK. When not exploring her keen interest in mental health, she can be found endangering her physical health on the ski slopes of Canada.