I. What is Gratitude and how it relates to Anxiety treatment.

• what you have?
• what you have accomplished?
• having your family and friends around you?
• other little things in life?
• being you?

Do you take time to savour the smaller moments of joy in your life, be it the taste of your favourite meal, a funny joke a friend told you, or the feeling of a comfortable pillow under your head?

If you are not doing so, you may be missing out on a great opportunity to strengthen yourself during stressful or anxiety-causing events. By being grateful for what you have and showing gratitude to others for what they have done, these two simple methods alone would already give you a “daily dose of happiness” which can help protect you from stress, anxiety, or even trauma in difficult times. By slowing down, and taking pleasure in the little things you enjoy in life without the pressure of wanting more, getting more or doing more, you remove a major source of stress that many people have in their lives: materialism and the illusion of choice.

Studies have also found that gratitude and enjoyment can help with more than just happiness and stress protection. It can also:

• improve your social relationships；
• enhance your problem solving skills；
• increase the ability to achieve goals； and
• make you healthier through more active exercises.

Although the effects of gratitude and enjoyment are relatively small, maintaining these positive feelings have shown to add a level of happiness which benefits both the mind and body.

There are a number of gratitude and enjoyment techniques you can use in the treatment of anxiety. The exercises you will learn about in this lesson include:

• Gratitude Journaling:
  These exercises include the well-known “Three Blessings” and keeping a weekly gratitude diary. They are all designed to help you identify some everyday events or happenings that you can be thankful for, but which may be missed out in your fast-paced lifestyle.
• Gratitude Visits: 
  These exercises involve giving thanks by showing gratitude to the people who have helped or guided you through difficult times. They also include doing good deeds for others.
• Forgiveness:
  Being able to let go of past hurts, pain and suffering can help free your mind and create more opportunities for happiness. By using forgiveness, you erase bitterness and the pain of the past to make way for moments of pleasure and gratitude in your life today and in the future. LET IT GO. 
• Savouring Pleasure:
  Savouring the little moments of pleasure may sounds easy, but it takes a bit of practice since everyday pleasures are often overshadowed by stressful and anxious moments. Through learning to take in pleasure by using all our senses, we can disarm the effects of stress on our minds.
• Daily Emotion Reports:
  Much like gratitude journaling, these reports help you to focus and identify the pleasurable moments you have in your day-to-day life. We often forget what simple pleasures we have, like enjoying and sharing a good dessert with a friend, reading from an interesting book, or smelling a sweet rose.  By recognising these small moments, you will learn to appreciate the simpler pleasures you have and avoid unhealthy overindulgence or materialistic pursuits.
• Minimise Choices:
  Focusing on fewer choices and learning to choose well when it matters, can promote happiness and lower stress. For example: not having to live up to extreme ideals like having a huge and fancy home, or not always having the best new phone can allow you to enjoy what you already have.

Finding the best way to be thankful and enjoy daily pleasures is based on your own personal experiences with stress, and lifestyle preferences. You may find that the best strategy is by reading about them and learning how to incorporate them into your daily life, or you may wish to try some or all of them to find out which one works best for your level of stress. In the end, you have choices about how you want to free your life from stress and to renew happiness. The way you appreciate the little things in life through gratitude and enjoyment are entirely up to you.