National Gratitude Month

Written By Karen Haney

November 2025

National Gratitude Month was an initiative started in 2015 by Stacey Grewal, who believes gratitude to be an essential ingredient of a happy and fulfilling life.

What is Gratitude?

Gratitude is an emotion similar to appreciation. The American Psychological Association more specifically defines it as a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate event or tangible gift.

Gratitude is both a state and a trait. One can experience gratitude for someone or something at a certain moment in time, and someone experiences gratitude more long-term as a positive character trait.

Being always grateful does not mean that one would deny the fact that negative things happen in life - it means finding and focusing more on the good. It means finding something to be grateful for amid the bitterness and hardship.

How to Practice Gratitude

  • Start a gratitude journal. Write about someone or something you’re thankful for everyday

  • Share your gratitude with others. Letting someone know you’re grateful for their care, service, or friendship often lifts their spirits or lifts a burden

  • Show your appreciation by giving back to your community

  • Send handwritten notes of appreciation. In the age of digital communication, sending handwritten notes of appreciation can brighten a person’s day and create a ripple effect of gratitude

Research has shown that gratitude:

  • Enhances our moods

  • Decreases stress

  • Drastically improves overall level of health and well-being

Grateful people have been shown to have fewer stress-related illnesses and experience less depression and lowered blood pressure, they are happier, and they have more satisfying personal and professional relationships.

Gratitude is the simplest way to change one’s perspective of the world. Learning to be grateful helps us appreciate the little things in life that we tend to take for granted, which brings about a deep feeling of satisfaction that fulfills and nourishes us.

If everyone practiced daily gratitude, we could change ourselves and the planet for the better.

Karen Haney
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