How to Express Gratitude

Do a random act of kindness. Doing a random act of kindness can be one of the best ways for you to show how grateful you are for the world around you.

You can anonymously pay the toll of the car behind you, send a stranger flowers, put some change into a person’s expired parking meter, or do someone a courtesy just because.

The best part of this is that your act is anonymous, so that you’re doing something kind without getting credit for it. Here are some other things you can do:

• Donate money or clothes to a charity.
• Teach someone a new skill.
• Listen to someone who is lonely.
• Help a person find his way.
• Pay for coffee for the person behind you

Offer to help. You can show your gratitude to strangers by offering to help them when they need it. Though you don’t need to overstep your bounds, you can help a lady carry groceries to her car, help a man with heavy packages by holding the door for him, or you can help a waitress clean up a big spill during a busy time.

Just making an effort to help, no matter how big or small, is one great way to express gratitude. Look out for opportunities to help people. While you don’t need to be pushy, a lot of people are really afraid to ask for help when they need it.

Smile. Just the act of smiling at a person can help light up his day and show him that you care. Whether you’re smiling at a person who is walking down the street, sitting across from you on the bus, or serving you coffee, just a simple smile can make a person feel appreciated and feel better about his or her day.

You don’t know what the life of a stranger you smile at is like, and as sad as it may seem, your smile may be the only smile he or she sees that day.

Smiling at people in customer service, whether they are ringing you up for a sandwich or helping you buy a cell phone, can especially show your gratitude. These people work long days and often feel a lack of gratitude, and you can turn that around.

Give a tip. One way to express your gratitude is to give a tip to a person who has done a great job. This can mean leaving a big tip along with a kind note to your waitress, tipping the delivery man, or even throwing some coins in a tip jar at your local cafe.

This small gesture can make a big difference in the morale and financial situations of the people you are helping.

Leaving a note to tell your waiter or the person who helped you just how much he or she meant to you can really make that person’s day. A lot of people spend their whole work day feeling completely unappreciated.

Be respectful to people around you. Another way to express your gratitude is to be respectful to the people around you as much as possible.

Respect the space of other people and don’t crowd them; respect their ears and don’t talk loudly on your phone in a quiet public place, and be kind and polite to strangers when you’re in the same room.

Just making an effort to treat other people with the respect and kindness they deserve is a way of expressing your gratitude to the world.

Treat other people like you’d want to be treated. Don’t invade their space or privacy or make them feel inferior to you. Offer them your seat on the bus. Smile at a person who looks sad. Let a person on crutches pass by you.

Demonstrating good manners is a great way to show respect. Avoid cursing, don’t chew with your mouth open, and avoid interrupting people. Give others your undivided attention, show interest in what they’re saying, and listen to them entirely.

Be a good citizen. Another way to express your gratitude to the world is to work on being a good citizen. This means parking your car in one spot only, cleaning up your own mess, letting pedestrians cross in front of your car, cleaning the lint out of your communal dryers, or really doing anything that shows a respect for society at large.

If you litter or leave your shopping cart out in the middle of the parking lot, it shows that you’re not grateful enough for all of the advantages you have to put things in order.

Remember that the world isn’t your private garbage dump. Always remember to put things back in their places instead of expecting that someone will do the cleaning for you.

Do your civic duties. Vote for president and in local elections, don’t groan about having jury duty, and pay your taxes.

Give a compliment. Another way to show how grateful you are is to give a compliment to the people around you. Since we’re talking about strangers, you don’t have to say anything too extreme or make people uncomfortable, but a simple, “Cool shirt!” or, “I love those flowers you’re holding!” can make a person feel special and important.

Make a goal of finding one thing to compliment today and soon you’ll make it a habit. Look out for the unique, the odd, or the truly original things. If someone is wearing an amazing shirt with foxes with bow-ties on it, then you better compliment it, because there’s a good chance the person who is wearing it is really proud of this particular item.

If someone has a great smile, don’t be afraid of saying so. Just make sure you don’t say it in a way that can be misinterpreted to be a come on.

Keep a gratitude journal. If you want to make gratitude a habit, then you should start keeping a gratitude journal to write down all of the things you’re thankful for each week.

Just pick a day to do it each week, such as a Sunday afternoon, and make a list of at least 10-20 things that you’re thankful for that week.

You may feel like you don’t have too much to be grateful for, but once you make an effort to really think about it, you’ll see that there’s plenty in your life to be happy about.^[2]

If you read through your journal just once a month, you’ll be able to see how much you really have to be grateful for. You can even keep your list taped above your computer to make yourself feel fulfilled throughout your work day.

Do yoga. Yoga is all about the practice of gratitude, and about offering your mind and body in a gesture of gratitude and contentment. If you want to make gratitude a part of your lifestyle, then make sure you go to at least 2-3 yoga classes a week and say “Namaste” to show how grateful you are for every breath you take.

You can also do yoga at home instead if you feel more comfortable making your offerings that way.

Practicing yoga means putting away your judgment and being thankful for the healthy body you have been given. It means offering it all up to the world, greeting the sun, and feeling good about everything you have been given.

Yoga is about doing things at your own pace, and not coveting what skills or experience your neighbor has. This can help you develop a more grateful mindset about the rest of the world, too.

Volunteer. Volunteering is another way that you can show how grateful you are for all of the advantages you have in this life. No matter how busy you are, you can try to carve out a few hours each month to help tutor at your local library, work at a soup kitchen, help out at your local school, or clean up a park in your community.

Making the effort to build a community and to focus on someone other than yourself is one of the best ways that you can truly show gratitude.

Being around people who have so much less than you do can remind you that you should take nothing for granted. You may find that these people can also teach you how to be truly grateful.

Be grateful on social media. Too many people use social media to make fun of other people or to complain about their days or the state of the world.

Though there are plenty of reasons to complain and more than a handful of reasons to be down on the world, sometimes, you should try to break the mold by posting a message about something you’re grateful about, or by thanking someone for brightening up your day. This is a great way to express gratitude to many people at once, and it takes little effort.

It doesn't have to come off as corny to shout out one of your friends to thank her for all she has done for you. As long as it comes from the heart, people will appreciate it.

Give other people something to be thankful about, too. Share a fun fact about food, nature, or even kittens. It doesn't have to be super serious.

As long as you’re getting away from the general trend of posting the most depressing news articles and complaining about the world, you’ll be doing a good thing.

Complain as little as possible. If you really want to express gratitude, then you should avoid complaining as much as possible. Though sometimes it can feel great to let it all out, you should make a habit of talking about the positive things in your life much more than the negative.

If all you do is complain about work, then it won’t seem like you’re grateful that you have a job. If you complain about your significant other all the time, then you won’t be showing gratitude for his love and support. Work on being optimistic instead of looking for reasons to complain, and you’ll be on your way to expressing gratitude more often.^[3]

If you complain every chance you get, then you won’t be able to see all the good things in your life. Though everyone has something to be upset about, you should focus on verbalizing all of the things you’re happy about, and you’ll be on your way to expressing gratitude in a much more acceptable way.

Be more affectionate. Another way to express gratitude is to be more affectionate with the people you care about. Be easier to give hugs, to put your arm around a loved one, and to kiss your children or your significant other.

Take more time to cuddle with your partner, and the next time you see a friend, go for a hug instead of just a wave or a smile. Being affectionate shows how much you appreciate all of the people in your life.

Make sure the person you’re hugging is a hugger, too. It’s important to be affectionate, but you don’t want to make people uncomfortable. Kiss your significant other at least twice a day to show you care.

Stop gossiping. If you want to live a more grateful life, then you should avoid gossiping about people as much as possible. Instead, focus on saying nice things about people behind their backs and on feeling positive about the people around you.

Instead of spreading rumors or putting people down, work on lifting them up. Show that you care about and appreciate the people in your life and don’t be ungrateful by dragging their names in the mud.

Plus, if your friends hear that you’re saying good things about them behind their backs, they’ll start saying nice things about you when you’re not around. This is a great way of spreading good karma!