September is a month of change for many reasons. It marks the end of summer and the beginning of the academic year. Adjusting to the change can be challenging; especially, if it coincides with an unexpected and/or negative life event.

I recently attended a 'Core Coaching Competencies in Health, Fitness, and Wellness' workshop where I learned that people who are more grateful have higher levels of well-being. Grateful people are happier, less depressed, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and social relationships. Grateful people also have higher levels of control of their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self acceptance. Grateful people have more positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being more likely to seek support from other people, reinterpreted and grow from the experience, and spend more time planning how to deal with the problem. Grateful people also have less negative coping strategies, being less likely to try and avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope through substance use. Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less negative and more positive thoughts just before going to sleep.

Let's explore a few ways to develop an attitude of gratitude that will positively effect what you see in your everyday life

There are actually several ways that you can do gratitude exercises. Personally I find what works best for me is to mentally go over my list of things to be grateful for as I run outside. The reason this is such an effective method for me is because I automatically become grateful for the beauty in nature and my own physical abilities.

If you're not into the running thing, you can also go over a mental list as you do the things that relax you, such as working in the garden, walking in the park, going fishing, or whatever relaxation activities that you do.

If you are at a place where you are totally unable to quiet your mind and are anxious most of the time, you may find the next method to be more effective, initially.

Just take out a piece of paper and make a hand written list of the things that you can think of that you are grateful for. Think deeply about each area of your life and begin to write in detail the good things that come to your mind as you write.

Don't fight it or strain attempting to come up with things, just "allow" them to flow.

Depending on your particular situation, you may find that it's hard to come up with things to be grateful for initially, so dig deep and things will begin to flow. Make sure though that you are finding and writing things that you are sincerely grateful for. If the emotion isn't there, the result won't be either.

For inspiration, I am going to end with the following quotes regarding gratitude:

You have life, so be grateful for help to be fit.