You might have heard a lot about gratitude exercises on social media etc on the moment – sometimes even been described as the cure for everything! And yes they may not fix everything that you are struggling with, but they can be helpful for anxiety as they shift your focus away from fear and worry and toward what is positive and steady in your life. Here’s how they help:

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🌿 1. Calms the Nervous System

Gratitude activates the parasympathetic nervous system (the “rest and digest” system), which helps calm the body’s stress response. This makes you feel more grounded and less on edge.

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🌞 2. Breaks the Worry Cycle

When you feel anxious, your brain tends to focus on threats or what might go wrong. Gratitude gently interrupts this by encouraging you to notice what is going right.

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🧠 3. Rewires the Brain Over Time

Regularly practicing gratitude helps train the brain to look for positives. Over time, this can reduce the default tendency toward worry or negative thinking — a common pattern in anxiety.

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❤️ 4. Increases Positive Emotions

Gratitude boosts feelings of joy, connection, and contentment. These positive emotions help balance out anxious thoughts and make you more emotionally resilient.

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🤝 5. Builds Connection

Focusing on what (or who) you’re grateful for often involves other people. This strengthens feelings of support, safety, and belonging — which can soothe social anxiety or feelings of isolation.

GRATITUDE EXERCISES

Daily Intentions:

This is an exercise you could do every morning, or just on days when you are feeling particularly stressed or anxious. Pose yourself the following three questions, you can write these on paper or note them on your phone, and make sure to check back in on the questions throughout the day.

🌞 Morning Gratitude Worksheet

Start your day with clarity, calm, and care.

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🌼 Today I Am Grateful For…

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✨ Today’s Positive Affirmations

(Write 1–3 statements to set a positive tone for the day)
☀️ _______________________________________
☀️ _______________________________________
☀️ _____________________________________

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✅ My Top 3 To-Dos Today

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💖 My Plan for Self-Care Today

(What will I do to look after my emotional, physical, or mental well-being?)

1.

2.

3.

Today’s affirmations could be something like “I am confident and secure,” “I am doing the best I can, and that is enough,” or “I am proud of myself.” You might even already have your own mantra, and these could change day to day. depending on what you need

Today’s Self-Care Moment could be making time to have a cup of tea with a friend, or going for a walk, or taking some time to yourself to relax. We are all busy bees so it can be hard to do all three in a day, but I try to make sure across a week I am doing activities that support my emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

Evening Reflections:

This exercise goes hand in hand with the daily intentions, and you might like to write these down in the same place as your Daily Intentions to reflect on the day. The questions for this are:

🌙 Evening Gratitude Worksheet

How would I sum up the day?

_______________________________________
_______________________________________
_____________________________________

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🌼 Today I Am Grateful For…

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✨ Three things I did well today

☀️ _______________________________________
☀️ _______________________________________
☀️ _____________________________________

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How Would I Sum Up Today is an opportunity to reflect on the day as a whole. How did you feel? How did the day go compared to how you imagined it? Often the days we are anxious about go a lot better than our anxiety would let us believe!

Three Things I Did Well Today helps you to be positive about yourself. These could be anything, big or small. For example, maybe you parallel parked when that is not your forte, or maybe you gave a talk and it went really well. Or maybe you just got through a bad day and that deserves recognition.

My Gratitude Moment could be anything in the day that made it that little bit better. Maybe this was a kind gesture from someone, noticing trees in bloom, or your pet being excited to greet you when you get home.

Let me know how you find these exercises!