The Life-Changing Magic of a Gratitude Jar
Enhance your mental and emotional health in 2025 through a gratitude jar practice.
A gratitude jar is an easy and meaningful way to cultivate the practice of gratitude in your daily life. Did you know that expressing gratitude can unlock more joy and positivity? Research has shown that regularly practicing gratitude can lead to greater happiness, improved sleep, heightened compassion, and even a stronger immune system. It’s a small habit with big benefits for your well-being!
With a gratitude jar, you’ll find yourself appreciating not just the big, happy moments but also the small, everyday things that make life special. As you tune into the little gifts around you, those joyful moments grow and multiply. It’s a simple practice that can brighten your days and transform your outlook!
Moments to be grateful for include:
The stranger who offers a warm smile as you pass by.
The driver who lets you merge into traffic with ease.
A call or text from a friend or loved one.
Finding a moment of calm amidst a hectic day.
Sharing a laugh over a favorite memory or inside joke.
The comforting embrace of a loved one.
A friendly interaction with a cashier.
Receiving unexpected recognition or kind words at work.
The simple joy of a sunrise, sunset, or starry night.
Someone holding the door open for you with a kind gesture.
The sound of birds or nature’s quiet beauty during a walk.
A kind compliment from a stranger.
The cozy feeling of your favorite blanket or warm drink.
A spontaneous act of kindness you witness or experience.
The satisfaction of completing a task or achieving a small win.
A New Beginning with Gratitude
The beginning of a New Year is the perfect time to begin a gratitude jar practice.
As we leave 2024 behind and step into the new year, it’s the perfect time to reflect on what we’re grateful for from the past year. While many have faced challenges, there are undoubtedly moments of gratitude to be found. By shifting our focus from the struggles to the experiences that brought compassion, understanding, and kindness, we can view the past year in a new, more positive light.
For a fresh take on your New Year’s resolution, why not focus on cultivating more gratitude in your everyday life and awaken a deeper sense of joy? One simple and fun idea we’d love to share is starting a gratitude jar. It costs nothing but has the potential to bring a positive shift to your life.
Why Use a Gratitude Jar?
Here are a few compelling reasons to start using a gratitude jar this year:
A Reminder of Life’s Blessings: A gratitude jar serves as a visual reminder of all the positive aspects of your life, both big and small. Whenever you feel down or stressed, you can turn to the jar for a quick boost of appreciation and perspective.
A Jar Full of Positivity: Over time, your gratitude jar will fill up with countless moments of joy, love, and gratitude. Looking at it, you'll have a tangible collection of uplifting messages to reflect on, helping you stay focused on the good in your life.
A Daily Dose of Feel-Good Messages: By drawing a message from your jar regularly, you’re giving yourself an instant mood lift. These notes can provide inspiration, reminders of happy moments, or simple affirmations that brighten your day.
Building a Habit of Gratefulness: A gratitude jar encourages you to pause and reflect on the things you’re thankful for, helping you build a consistent habit of gratitude. This practice not only enhances your outlook on life but also strengthens emotional resilience, making it easier to navigate challenges with a positive mindset.
How to Create and Use a Gratitude Jar
Choose the Right Jar: The first step is to select a jar that’s big enough to hold small pieces of paper or post-it notes, which you’ll fill throughout the year. Make sure it’s large enough to accumulate all the positive moments you'll want to reflect on. Consider using a mason jar, an old glass container, or even a decorative vase—whatever feels right for you.
Personalize Your Jar: This is the fun part! You can decorate your jar however you like to make it feel special. Use ribbons, paint, or stickers, to give it a personal touch. The more it reflects your personality, the more inviting it will feel to use/ You might also want to add a small label or tag with the words “Gratitude Jar” or “Moments of Thanks” to remind you of its purpose.
Gather Your Supplies: Along with your gratitude jar, you’ll need a stack of small pieces of paper or post-it notes, along with a pen, pencil or markers.
Find the Perfect Spot: Place your gratitude jar in a visible location where you’ll see it often, like on your desl. kitchen counter, bathroom vanity, or bedroom dresser. The more noticeable the jar is, the more likely you are to use it.
Write Your Gratitude Notes: Whenever you experience a moment of gratitude—whether it’s something big like a personal achievement, or small like a kind gesture from a friend—take a moment to write it down on a piece of paper. Try to be specific, detailing the event or feeling that made you thankful. This will help you cultivate a deeper connection to the moment and strengthen your gratitude practice.
Make It a Habit: The more you use your gratitude jar, the more natural the practice will become. Set aside a few minutes each day or week to reflect and add new notes, or make it a family activity by encouraging loved ones to contribute their own messages of thanks.
Reflect on Your Gratitude Jar: At the end of the year, or whenever you need a boost, take some time to read through the notes in your jar. This can serve as a beautiful reminder of all the good in your life.
You’ll be amazed at how quickly your jar fills with moments of joy and gratitude.
Set a goal to write down at least one thing you are thankful for each day.
Cultivating Gratitude
Like any New Year’s resolution, the challenge is in sustaining the new practice. So often we have great intentions but quickly lose momentum. All of this then becomes another reason to feel bad about ourselves. So how do we sustain this gratitude practice in a way that is loving and kind? Here are a few ideas that may help.
Try to set a goal of writing a one gratitude note per day.
Establish a routine that works for you. For example, you may think that you are going to write your gratitude jar offerings each evening, but then you realize you are so tired that you put it off. Why not write them down immediately? Not creating a chore around this practice but keeping it alive and fun. When something happens that you are grateful for, say something like, “well that’s one for the gratitude jar!”. Remember that success builds upon success. Celebrate each offering you make to the gratitude jar.
See how creative you can be in expressing your statements of gratitude. For example, going beyond “I am grateful for my family”, to something like, “I am so grateful that my son vacuumed for me today when I was feeling so tired”, “I feel deep gratitude for my wife for loving me”, or “I am so grateful that I was able to stay calm at work today.” It helps to go beyond the usual ‘mundane’ expressions of gratitude.
Appreciate all that you are by expressing gratitude for all of your skills and talents, all of your strength and resilience. As we begin to acknowledge these positive attributes we begin to change the tone of our self-talk to being more loving and kind.
Remember to express gratitude for all that you are.
Expand beyond the confines of your family and friends to expressing gratitude for the little details in life itself such as gratitude for the beautiful flowers and trees that you see on your way to work. Gratitude for the grace in finding a parking spot so easily. Gratitude for the stranger who acknowledged you as you walked by.
Bring joy to the practice by being mindful of all of your interactions each day.
And of course, as you begin to recognise a change in your attitude, express gratitude to yourself for sustaining a gratitude practice.
Whenever you are feeling negative or resistant in doing this practice, grab a handful of the messages that are in the gratitude jar and begin to read them.
This articles draws on the research of UC Davis psychologist Robert Emmons, author of, Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier. His book emphasizes that writing down what you are grateful for increases your well-being.
Recommended Gratitude Meditations
Morning Gratitude Meditation - begin the day by expressing gratitude and then allow it to radiate throughout the whole of our being through the entire day.
New Beginnings Meditation - review of the past year with gratitude for all that occurred and letting go of the disappointments. It creates a space for new beginnings for what you want to create in the coming year.
Cultivating Gratitude - a soothing meditation to cultivate a grateful heart.
Body Scan Meditation - in this guided meditation we bestow the amazing gift of gratitude upon our whole body to appreciate, nurture, restore and regenerate every cell of our being.
Gratitude Sleep Meditation - A deeply relaxing gratitude sleep meditation that helps you to review your day with the lens of gratitude for all that occurred.
View all our gratitude meditations.
A gratitude jar is an easy and meaningful way to cultivate the practice of gratitude in your daily life.