Ask Yourself These 20 Questions for the Emotional Boost We Crave This Time of Year

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We all have those days when life feels like a raging dumpster fire. When everything feels out of control, it can be easy to get caught up in the negative spiral and forget about the good things we have going for us. But what if we hit the brakes for a second and ask ourselves the right questions—questions that are designed to fostergratitude?

Cultivating gratitude can be a game-changer. It shifts our perspective and changes how we see the world, even when everything feels frustrating oroverwhelming.

Gratitude stops the “monkey mind,” a common problem in humans that has us endlessly circling on a wheel of confusion, saysAudrey Hope, a certified counselor and spiritual expert. “With gratitude, the wheel stops and we are here and now in the present moment. Gratitude is something we can all do and something we can incorporate into our lives at the very moment that we think about it.”

This article dives into 20 questions that focus your attention on the good stuff and shares simple tips that can help you make gratitude a daily habit.

Feeling down? Gratitude can flip your mindset and make life feel a whole lot better. Making gratitude a daily habit can boost your mood, improve your relationships, and reduce your stress levels. Ultimately, it’s about living in a way that values the big and small joys around you.

20 Questions to Help You Cultivate Gratitude

Here are 20 thoughtful questions that can help you tap into gratitude:

These questions can help you focus on thepositive, even during tough times, and remind you of the good things in your life.

The Importance of Gratitude

Gratitude is more than just a feel-good buzzword—it’s a powerful tool that can flip your perspective on life. Here’s why it’s so important:

In fact, there have been several studies highlighting the impact of gratitude on our mental health, physical health, and well-being,saysElizabeth Hughes, LPCC, a therapist at ADHDAdvisor. Research shows us that gratitude and life satisfaction are closely linked—they both grow together and feed into each other.

How to Make Gratitude a Daily Habit

The best way to practice gratitude is to make it a daily habit. Here are some strategies that may be helpful:

Gratitude Exercises for the Holiday Season

Keep in Mind

Gratitude isn’t about being perfect or pretending that life is always great. Rather, it’s about finding those little things that make it all worth it, even on the tough days. By asking ourselves these questions and makinggratitudea daily habit, we can start seeing the world in a whole new light. Because honestly, life feels way better when we’re focusing on what wedohave instead of what wedon’t.

How to Teach Children Gratitude

3 SourcesVerywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Di Fabio A, Palazzeschi L, Bucci O.Gratitude in organizations: A contribution for healthy organizational contexts.Front Psychol. 2017 Nov 17;8:2025. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02025Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM.The effects of gratitude interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J, Van Den Broeck A.The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: Evidence from two longitudinal field studies.Front Psychol. 2019 Nov 8;10:2480. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480

3 Sources

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Di Fabio A, Palazzeschi L, Bucci O.Gratitude in organizations: A contribution for healthy organizational contexts.Front Psychol. 2017 Nov 17;8:2025. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02025Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM.The effects of gratitude interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J, Van Den Broeck A.The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: Evidence from two longitudinal field studies.Front Psychol. 2019 Nov 8;10:2480. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

Di Fabio A, Palazzeschi L, Bucci O.Gratitude in organizations: A contribution for healthy organizational contexts.Front Psychol. 2017 Nov 17;8:2025. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02025Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM.The effects of gratitude interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J, Van Den Broeck A.The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: Evidence from two longitudinal field studies.Front Psychol. 2019 Nov 8;10:2480. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480

Di Fabio A, Palazzeschi L, Bucci O.Gratitude in organizations: A contribution for healthy organizational contexts.Front Psychol. 2017 Nov 17;8:2025. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02025

Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM.The effects of gratitude interventions: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi:10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371

Unanue W, Gomez Mella ME, Cortez DA, Bravo D, Araya-Véliz C, Unanue J, Van Den Broeck A.The reciprocal relationship between gratitude and life satisfaction: Evidence from two longitudinal field studies.Front Psychol. 2019 Nov 8;10:2480. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02480

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