How to have gratitude for your body

One of the tools that has helped me most in learning to value and respect my body (and still does), is a regular gratitude practice.

Articulating what you feel grateful for about your body (and life) is one way to counter-act negative body thoughts.

What is a gratitude practice?

A gratitude practice is a daily habit of thinking about (and preferably writing down) the things that you feel grateful for.

They don’t have to be big things.  In fact, the smaller the better.

You can be grateful for things about your life, like having food on your table.

Or gratitude can be for things about your body, like what your body allows you to do each day.

Being grateful trains your brain to focus on what’s positive in your life.

The impact of gratitude on body image

When you practice gratitude daily, two things happen in terms of your body image.

Firstly, being grateful takes the negative focus off your body. When you’re thinking about the good things in your life, you have less room for negative body thoughts.

Secondly, if you include gratitude for your body in your daily practice, you’ll begin to feel differently about your body, particularly if you focus on its function rather than appearance.

Studies have shown that keeping a gratitude journal increases life satisfaction.

There is also research to suggest that focusing on the function of your body over its appearance can help improve body image.

My practice

Having a regular gratitude practice has revolutionised the way I see my life and my body.

When I’m having a ‘low’ day, I make sure I end the day focusing on what I have to be grateful for, like a loving husband who is supportive, and a body that enables me to go about my day to day life doing the activities I love.

Getting started

There is no right or wrong way, just your way.

You might want to begin or end each day listing 10 things you are grateful for – maybe include 5 about your life in general and 5 about your body.

Why not buy a beautiful notebook?

Or perhaps you’d prefer to say what you’re grateful for aloud or in your head.

Recording what makes you grateful is also hugely powerful, because you can play it back whenever you need a boost.

There are also meditations available, such as this body gratitude meditation by Mindfulness Exercises.

In a nutshell

I believe that being grateful for your body is one of the best ways to learn to value and respect it, so give it a try!