Why a Gratitude Jar Is All You Need To Be Happy {+ Printables}

This is how I decided to create my Gratitude Jar of Happiness today.

I woke up at half past three this morning. Thoughts running through my head like unsupervised children packed with four candies and cups of hot chocolate. My body needs sleep, but my mind wants to think and think and think some more… Ugh!

I’ve got an important health-related procedure coming up in a month or so. Panicking from now won’t make things easier, if not the opposite.

So I spent the hour and a half between waking up and the alarm at 5 a.m. contemplating how to bring more peace to my heart and soul. I need them so desperately right now.

I came up with three options – all tested and proven to work for the last 6-7 years.

Walks, meditation, and gratitude – the three ways I know my body and mind love to be nurtured. And while I wait for England to defrost so I can walk longer than half an hour before I turn into an icy popsicle, meditation, and gratitude are my go-to.

I am not an expert when it comes to meditating. I would either find my favorite Youtuber and choose one of her guided meditations or sit in silence and try to breathe through the darkness.

However, gratitude is something I’ve mastered. Let’s talk about it.

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What is Gratitude?

Thankfulness, gratitude, and appreciation are all deeply connected, expressing the pleasant feeling of being thankful and appreciative for something one has received. The word gratitude comes from the Latin word gratus, which means “grateful, pleasant”.

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The Benefits of Gratitude

Allow me to list just a few of the benefits of gratitude below:

• It makes you more positive;
• Improves your sleep;
• Improves your physical health: lowers blood pressure, reduces symptoms of illness, and more.
• Improves psychological health;
• Increases your overall happiness;
• Reduces aggression;
• Improves personal and social relationships;
• Enhances self-confidence and self-esteem;
• Promotes acts of self-love;
• Boosts empathy;
• Reduces anxiety and depression (which was my case above);
• Promotes self-satisfaction and feeling of enough;
• It makes you more resilient;
• It helps you forgive and let go easier (mainly to yourself, which is something many of us struggle with).

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Finding Gratitude in Hard Times

Let’s agree that expressing gratitude is natural when things are going great, and we rarely need reminders.

But what if there is a tiny worm of anxiety and worry that digs through our mind, disturbs our sleep, and makes food taste like black sand?

What about the moments when you ‘know‘ you should be grateful, yet feel everything else but…?

Finding gratitude in hard times is an art that requires you to be really low before mastering it. Yes, you read that correctly. It’s what happened to me over 6 years ago.

If you’re curious, maybe going over this post on finding happiness through thankfulness will shine some light on it. The short romanticized version is that I was ready to give up on life, but I managed to squeeze a page of gratitude one rainy evening, and I did the same the evening after and the evening after.

Fast forward 6 years later, I got married, adopted a dog, opened three businesses, and I do what I love every single day.

Yet, I woke up at half past 3 this morning, troubled, worried, anxious, restless, pounding heart and hands that need to scribble gratitude.

So I am ready to, once again, invite the magic of Gratitude into my life. And I will make it fun for both you and me. Ready to join me?

Let’s make a Gratitude Jar!!!

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What is a Gratitude Jar

Grab a small piece of paper. Write a word or two of gratitude and place them in a glass jar. Now you have a gratitude jar, and it is that simple.

However, we all love complicating our lives, so let’s do that by expanding the idea of a gratitude jar creation.

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How to Make a Gratitude Jar – Ideas

A glass jar and pieces of paper

The most common way to build your gratitude jar is to grab a glass jar from your kitchen cupboards and stick a label that says ‘Gratitude Jar’ or ‘Jar of Happiness’ on it. Keep it somewhere you won’t forget about it. Leave a pen and a few pieces of paper next to it so it’s easy to scribble a few words, fold the paper, and put it in the jar.

Grab these few printable gratitude sheets if you’d like to make things pretty. All you need to do is print them, cut them, and keep them next to your gratitude jar.

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Printable Gratitude Jar for Journal Junkies

If you are anything like me, and journaling is your second nature, then this idea might be better than the first one.

We keep the idea of building our own gratitude journal, but this time, instead of using the empty jar from the pickles we finished last week, we print that jar and write on it. Sounds illogical? Check the photo below.

Of course, I’ve got you covered on this one too.

I created this printable gratitude jar two years ago for my Facebook group. The FB group doesn’t exist anymore, but I still keep that printable available for purchase. It costs less than three sips of coffee (I promise), and you can print it as often as you wish (from now until eternity). You can grab it by clicking here.

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How to Use a Gratitude Jar

Maybe the right question would be: ‘When to use a gratitude jar?’

You use it every day or whenever you feel like the greyish in your life is too much, so you start seeking bright colors.

You write a word, a sentence, or a paragraph, whatever feels best at that very moment. If you only have limited space but words can’t stop pouring onto the paper, keep writing in your journal or on your device. Never stop gratitude from pouring out of your heart – let it all out. It is a positive energy that seeks manifestation moment, and you must offer that.

What to write in a gratitude jar?

Here are a few great ideas on what to write in a gratitude jar:

• Write about the best moments of your day (ex.: ‘no traffic’, ‘boss said Well done!’, first sunny day for this month’, ‘cooked awesome meal’, ‘bought a new book’)
• Mention the great people you met on that day.
• Big events that happened (obviously)
• Big decisions you took (ex.: ‘we’re trying for a baby’, ‘starting a new course’, ‘decided to stop caring what others think of me’)
• Manifestations – a little weird one, but so fun. Instead of expressing gratitude for what happened, write a sentence of gratitude for something you want to attract in your life, but write it like it happened already. (ex.: ‘I am grateful we just moved into our new house’, ‘I am grateful for getting an A on my exam’, ‘I am grateful for finishing my project three weeks before the due date‘)

Whatever you decide to write to write and store in your gratitude jar, be sure it’s positive, colorful, and vibrant.

Do you want to know which type of gratitude jar I decided to use? It’s the printable one; I am keeping it in my journal, so every time I open it, I know I have to write a few extra words of thankfulness. Which gratitude jar did you choose to have?

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