Take some time at the beginning or end of the day to reflect on what you’re grateful for. “A daily grateful check-in or keeping a grateful journal is a way to shift your focus and minimize the distorting influence of stress. Reminding ourselves of the small, everyday positive aspects of our lives helps to develop a sense of balance and perspective that can enhance well-being,” says Johns Hopkins psychiatrist Susan Lehmann, M.D.
Yours in Service,
Rachel Huerta, ARNP
Owner of Direct Primary Care of Boca Raton
2017 Healthcare Woman of Distinction Award Winner
Immediate Past-President of The Rotary Club of Boca Raton
How to Adopt an Attitude of Gratitude Day to Day
An attitude of gratitude doesn’t have to mean a formal journaling practice if that’s not your style. Some people prefer naming one good thing out loud at dinner, others jot a quick note on their phone before bed. What matters more than the format is the repetition — a few seconds spent noticing something good, done consistently, tends to shift how stressful days feel over time.
This isn’t about ignoring real problems or forcing positivity when things are genuinely hard. It’s more that stress narrows our focus onto what’s going wrong, and a gratitude habit is a small, deliberate counterweight to that. Even on rough days, most people can find one specific thing, however small, that went okay.
We talk with our members at Direct Primary Care of Boca Raton about stress and mental well-being as part of overall health, not as an afterthought. If stress has been weighing on you more than usual, that’s worth bringing up at your next visit — it’s a normal part of the conversation, not a separate one. Small habits like this one are often the ones that stick the longest.