What is gratitude?

Gratitude means noticing and appreciating the good things in your life.

These can be big things or small things. You don’t have to feel excited or emotional about them. It can simply mean noticing something that makes your day easier, safer, more interesting, or more enjoyable.

There's no right or wrong thing to be grateful for. What matters is what feels important and meaningful to you.

How does gratitude work?

Research suggests that gratitude practices can support mental and physical health.

People who regularly notice what they are grateful for often report less stress and anxiety. They may sleep better, feel more positive, and feel more connected to others or more satisfied with life.

Most of this research has been with non-autistic people, and we hope to learn more about its effects for autistic people too. Even so, it may still be worth exploring in ways that work for you.

Gratitude is not about pretending everything is fine or ignoring real challenges. It is okay if gratitude does not come naturally, and some days will feel harder than others. You may experience or express gratitude differently, and that is completely fine.

There are three practices that we will discuss, and they involve gratitude journaling. Gratitude journaling means regularly recording the things you're grateful for.

You can do this in different ways. You might:

• write your gratitude down
• visualise things you’re grateful for
• or speak them out loud.

To fully benefit from gratitude practices, it's important to do the chosen practice regularly. For instance, you could try doing it daily.

Video

You can watch this video to see Chris talking about his journey of practicing gratitude journaling

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Click on the links (or tabs) to try each method. Then choose the method(s) that feels most comfortable for you.