The beginning of a new year is like a clean page in a notebook, full of possibilities, fresh energy, and the feeling that we have another chance to begin again. Life can feel hectic and uncertain, but a new year invites us to pause, take a breath, and choose how we want to move ahead. We all face our share of challenges, but each one also gives us an opportunity to grow stronger and more resilient. Whether we’re thinking about our health, our families, our finances, or the world around us, these experiences can make us more aware of the small, meaningful moments in our day. We can’t control everything that happens, but we can lean into one powerful tool that changes how we experience it all: gratitude.
Feeling gratitude is not pretending everything is fine or ignoring very real problems. It is not putting on a fake smile and acting like we are “blessed” when we are exhausted, grieving, or stressed. Gratitude is choosing to notice what is still good, meaningful, or beautiful in our lives, even in hard seasons. That simple shift in perspective can change our bodies, our brains, and the way we move through the year ahead. Author and psychologist Robert Emmons is a leading researcher on the psychology of gratitude. He emphasizes that gratitude isn’t just a feeling, but a practice, a skill that boosts well-being, strengthens relationships, improves health, and counters negative emotions like envy, transforming life by shifting focus to blessings and promoting positive actions.
As a health reporter and wellness advocate, I have been fascinated by how powerful this mindset really is. Scientists have been studying gratitude for years, and their findings are surprisingly concrete. People who regularly practice gratitude tend to sleep better, feel less stressed and anxious, and report more optimism and life satisfaction. Research from major medical centers has linked gratitude with better sleep quality, lower depression risks, improved emotional and social well-being, and even favorable markers for heart health.
Some studies suggest that expressing gratitude can improve mood, reduce symptoms of anxiety, and support a healthier immune response. Gratitude activates regions of the brain involved in pleasure, bonding, and emotional regulation, helping to quiet the constant fight or flight response many of us live in. Over time, our bodies spend less time in that high alert, stressed state, which is no small thing for our long-term health.
Mentally, gratitude helps pull our attention away from what is missing, frightening, or frustrating, and toward what is stable, loving, or hopeful. Our brains naturally scan for problems and threats, which is useful for survival but not very helpful for peace of mind. Gratitude does not erase those problems, but it balances the picture. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky is the author of The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting The Life You Want. She has described gratitude as an antidote to negative emotions, a neutralizer of envy, hostility, worry, and irritation. In other words, when we train ourselves to notice what is going right, we soften the grip of what is going wrong.
Of course, it is easy to feel grateful when life is going smoothly, or we are enjoying a beach vacation. The real power of gratitude shows up when things are messy, a difficult diagnosis, a job loss, a strained relationship, or just the daily grind of responsibilities layered on top of worry. I have spoken with many people over the years who resist gratitude because they think it means minimizing their pain or “looking on the bright side” when they do not feel like it. However, experts say gratitude and struggle can absolutely coexist.
We can be grateful for a supportive friend and still be terrified about a medical test. We can appreciate our home even if it needs repairs. We can be deeply thankful for our children and still feel stretched thin by parenting. Gratitude does not cancel out discomfort; it sits beside it. It says, “Yes, this is hard, and there is still something good here.”
When we practice gratitude during challenging times, we remind ourselves that our lives are bigger than the problem in front of us. A tough day at work might still include a kind text from a friend, a warm meal, or a quiet moment with a pet. A stressful appointment might end with a beautiful sunset on the drive home or a comforting phone call with a loved one. Those small, ordinary moments are not trivial. They are anchors. They help steady us when everything else feels uncertain.
The encouraging news is that gratitude is not just a feeling we either have or do not have; it is a skill, and like any skill, it grows with practice. We often think of gratitude as something that appears when something wonderful happens. In reality, we can train ourselves to notice and name what we are thankful for, even when we are not in a particularly “feel-good” mood. That is where simple, consistent habits come in.
One powerful shift we can try is changing “I have to” into “I get to.” It might sound small, but the language we use shapes how we feel. “I have to make dinner” becomes “I get to make dinner because I have food in the house and people I love to cook for.” “I have to work out” becomes “I get to move my body today.” These reframes do not magically make chores fun, but they do remind us that many of our daily tasks are reflections of blessings, health, family, responsibilities, and opportunities that we sometimes forget to appreciate.
Another simple practice is to build brief gratitude moments into the rhythm of our day. We might pause in the morning and mentally name three things we are grateful for before reaching for our phones. We might end the day by thinking of a few small wins or sweet moments before we fall asleep. We can say them out loud, jot them down, or simply hold them quietly in our minds. When we tell other people that we appreciate them, a coworker who stepped in to help, a neighbor who checked in, or a spouse who listened after a long day, we lift their spirits and strengthen our own sense of connection.
For many of us, the most effective way to build a lasting gratitude habit is to keep a journal. A gratitude journal gives our thoughts a home and slows us down just enough to notice. When we write, we are not just vaguely thinking “today was fine.” We are capturing details, the way our dog greeted us at the door, the laughter at the dinner table, the feeling of finally finishing a project that has been hanging over us. Those details matter. Over time, our brains start looking for things to write about, so we naturally scan our day for what went right instead of only what went wrong.
Our gratitude journals do not have to be fancy or poetic. Some days it might be a list of three quick items. Other days, it might be a few sentences about a conversation, a walk, or a personal accomplishment. The goal is not perfection, it is presence. We are training ourselves to live with our eyes open to the good, even when the day is far from perfect.
We can use a simple notebook on the nightstand or a note on our phones, but in our digital world, a journaling app can make the practice more convenient and sustainable. In my own life, I use an online journal app called Day One. Since it is on my phone, I can add an entry whenever something moves me, at stoplight, waiting in line, when I wake up or before bed. I love that I can add photos and even short videos. A picture from a family gathering, a snapshot of a quiet morning walk, or a short clip of my loved ones laughing turns my gratitude list into a living memory bank. This app also allows voice-to-text for added convenience.
Day One is only a few dollars per month as a subscription, and for me, that small cost is worth the amazing visual memories it creates. Over time, it becomes more than a journal; it becomes an album of the good in our lives, big and small. On tough days, scrolling back through old entries is a powerful reminder that we have been through hard things before, and there have always been bright spots along the way.
If Day One is not your style, there are several other apps that can help us build a gratitude habit. Grateful is a simple, clean app that offers gentle prompts, such as “What made you smile today?” or “What brought you peace?” which can be especially helpful on days when we are not sure where to begin. Gratitude: Journal & Affirmations combines space for daily reflections with positive affirmations to help shift our mindset toward what is working in our lives. The Five Minute Journal app adapts the popular paper journal into a digital format, guiding us through a quick morning and evening check-in so we can practice gratitude in just a few focused minutes. All of these tools, including Day One, share a common goal: they make gratitude easier to practice and easier to remember.
The specific method we choose matters less than our commitment to using it. Whether we are typing into an app, writing by hand, or quietly reflecting in our minds, the consistent act of noticing and naming what we are thankful for starts to reshape the way we experience our lives. Emmons notes that gratitude helps us see our lives as full of gifts, and when we see ourselves as recipients of those gifts, we are often more willing to share our own gifts with others.
As we step into 2026, none of us can predict exactly what the year will bring. There will be joys we never saw coming and challenges we wish we could avoid. We will have good days, hard days, and plenty of ordinary days in between. We may not be able to control the headlines or every twist and turn in our personal lives, but we can choose how we meet them.
Gratitude does not erase loss, worry, or disappointment. It does not magically fix the budget or cure an illness. What it does is soften the edges of our struggles and remind us that even in uncertain times, there is still so much that is good, steady, and worth celebrating. It helps us see the people who show up for us, the small kindnesses woven into our days, and the strength we did not know we had. Studies in positive psychology have shown that even short periods of practicing gratitude, such as writing down what went well for a week, can leave people feeling significantly happier and less depressed.
Maybe this is the year we start a gratitude journal, try a new app like Day One, or simply pause each night to ask, “What am I thankful for today?” Maybe we can experiment with changing a few “have to” moments into “get to” moments. Maybe we make a point to tell the people in our lives how much they mean to us. These habits may seem small, but they add up.
Small moments of gratitude, practiced day after day, can quietly transform our health, our relationships, and our outlook. As we turn the page into a new year together, that may be the most powerful resolution of all.
