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" Each holiday season, make saying grace only a part of your appreciation equation; after all, there&amp;#039;s plenty to be thankful for apart from the food on your plate (though we agree that Thanksgiving dinner is pretty great). Here, a few ideas on how to enhance your gratitude attitude, including simply imagining your life without all of the good stuff, enlisting a friend to help you look on the bright side and more.   1. Enlist a Friend Ask a pal to be your &amp;quot;gratitude-accountability partner,&amp;quot; suggests Robert Emmons, PhD, author of Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier. Email each other with things you&amp;#039;re thankful for in life. &amp;quot;Translating thoughts into words\u2014whether oral or written\u2014makes them more real to us,&amp;quot; says Dr. Emmons. Having someone to answer to will keep you disciplined.   2. Remember the Bad Times Make a list of the tough breaks you&amp;#039;ve faced (a divorce, the loss of a loved one, a layoff). Recounting what you&amp;#039;ve been through\u2014and survived\u2014will help you appreciate what you have now. Ask yourself: What personal strengths grew out of the experience? How has it helped me value the important things? &amp;quot;This provides new perspective on life&amp;#039;s hardships,&amp;quot; says Dr. Emmons.   3. Imagine your life Without Its Blessings &amp;quot;Think about what it would be like if something you&amp;#039;re now grateful for never happened,&amp;quot; suggests Sara Algoe, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Focusing on how much worse off you&amp;#039;d be without the things in your life that make you happy helps you appreciate them more.   4. Perform a Gratitude Swap When you catch yourself dwelling on the negative, jot down what&amp;#039;s bothering you. Then, cross it off, substituting it with something you&amp;#039;re grateful for. &amp;quot;My life is boring&amp;quot; could turn into &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m finally taking that trip to Florida.&amp;quot; Says Dr. Emmons, &amp;quot;Thinking you deserve better or that life hasn&amp;#039;t turned out the way you want stops you from seeing the positive.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a5309/4-ways-to-be-grateful-all-year-long-112627/>