Real-Life Examples of Gratitude & Mental Wellness: 3 Examples That Actually Help

Picture this: your alarm goes off at 6:30 a.m. You’re already behind. Your brain starts listing problems like a to-do list from hell. Instead of jumping straight into email or social media, you grab a notebook and write three things you’re grateful for.

Not big, life-changing things. Just real things:

• The way the light hits your kitchen window.
• The dog snoring at your feet.
• The fact that yesterday is over and you get another shot today.

This simple practice is one of the best examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples of this kind of tiny ritual can shift your mental baseline over time. Researchers have been tracking this for years. A well-known study by Dr. Robert Emmons and colleagues found that people who wrote down things they were grateful for just once a week reported better well-being and fewer physical symptoms than those who focused on hassles instead.

More recently, gratitude has shown up in mainstream mental health recommendations. The National Institutes of Health has highlighted gratitude journaling as a positive psychology strategy associated with better mood and lower stress levels (NIH). And the Mayo Clinic points out that gratitude practices can help people feel more positive emotions and improve relationships (Mayo Clinic).

What makes this morning reset such a strong example of gratitude & mental wellness is that it’s doable. Three minutes. Three lines. No fancy journal needed.

Over time, people who stick with this often notice specific mental health shifts:

• Anxiety softens a notch because the brain is not only scanning for threats, but also for good things.
• Depressive thoughts get interrupted, even briefly, by small moments of appreciation.
• Sleep can improve because the day ends with a gentler mental review when you repeat the practice at night.

The most powerful real examples look almost boring from the outside. But they’re repeated. A 3-minute practice, every morning for a month, can do more for your mental wellness than a once-a-year resolution.

Examples of Gratitude & Mental Wellness: 3 Examples at Work and in Daily Life

Let’s move from the quiet of your kitchen to the chaos of modern work. If you want real examples of gratitude & mental wellness, 3 examples at work show how this plays out when deadlines, meetings, and Slack pings won’t stop.

1. The “Thank-You Email” That Changed Team Culture

A mid-level manager at a tech company started sending one short thank-you email every Friday. Not a corporate template. Just a specific, direct note:

“Hey, I noticed how you stayed calm with that angry client yesterday. You handled it with a lot of patience. I appreciated watching you do that.”

She did this for three different people every week. No big announcement. No program. Just consistency.

Over a few months, people started mirroring her. Teammates began calling out each other’s wins in meetings. New hires reported feeling more supported. Several employees later said this low-key gratitude culture helped them get through a brutal product launch without burning out.

This is a workplace-ready example of gratitude & mental wellness, because it does two things:

• It gives the giver a hit of positive emotion and purpose.
• It gives the receiver a sense of being seen, which is strongly tied to lower stress and higher job satisfaction.

The American Psychological Association has noted that feeling valued at work is related to better mental health and higher engagement (APA). Gratitude is one way to build that sense of value without cheesy team-building exercises.

2. The Commute Reframe

Another of the best examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples often include some version of this “reframe the commute” story.

A nurse working 12-hour shifts used to dread her 40-minute drive home. It was her daily replay reel of everything that went wrong: the patient she worried about, the charting she didn’t finish, the snarky comment from a coworker.

At her therapist’s suggestion, she turned her commute into a gratitude practice. On the way home, she named three things she was grateful for from that shift:

• A patient who smiled when she walked in.
• A colleague who helped her with a difficult case.
• The moment she caught a medication error before it reached the patient.

She did this out loud, alone in the car. At first it felt forced. But after a few weeks, she noticed she arrived home less tense and less likely to snap at her family.

This is one of those quiet, real examples where gratitude doesn’t erase stress or trauma—but it keeps the mind from being entirely dominated by what went wrong.

3. The “Micro-Thanks” Habit in Relationships

Gratitude isn’t just a solo activity. Another everyday example of gratitude & mental wellness shows up in relationships.

A couple in their forties, on the brink of separation, started couples therapy. One of the first assignments: every day, each person had to say one specific thank you to the other.

Not “Thanks for everything.” More like:

• “Thank you for making coffee this morning.”
• “I appreciate you picking up the kids so I could rest.”
• “Thanks for listening when I vented about my boss.”

It took under 30 seconds a day. Over time, it softened the edges of resentment. They still argued. They still had real issues to work through. But those micro-thanks reminded them that there was still something worth fighting for.

Research backs this up. Studies have shown that expressing gratitude to a partner is associated with stronger relationships and higher perceived support, which in turn is linked to better mental health (Harvard Health).

These three workplace and daily-life stories are clear examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples that show how gratitude can shape culture, soften stress, and stabilize relationships—without pretending everything is fine when it isn’t.

Therapy-Based Examples of Gratitude & Mental Wellness: 3 Examples From Real Practice

Gratitude isn’t just a feel-good social media trend; it’s showing up more and more in mental health treatment plans. Therapists and psychiatrists are folding gratitude into cognitive behavioral therapy, trauma work, and even digital mental health apps.

Here are therapy-centered examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples drawn from how clinicians use it in 2024–2025.

1. Gratitude Letters in Depression Treatment

A young man in his twenties was in therapy for major depression. His therapist suggested something that felt awkward at first: write a letter of gratitude to someone who had helped him, then read it to them.

He chose an old high school teacher who had encouraged him when he was barely passing classes. The letter took him an hour. Reading it out loud took five trembling minutes. The teacher cried. He cried.

His depression didn’t vanish. But in the following weeks, he reported a noticeable lift in mood and a stronger sense of connection. This kind of gratitude letter exercise has been studied in positive psychology and has shown benefits for well-being that can last for weeks or even months.

2. Trauma-Informed Gratitude in PTSD Recovery

For people recovering from trauma, the idea of gratitude can feel invalidating if it’s used to minimize pain—“Just be grateful it wasn’t worse.” That’s not what we’re talking about.

One therapist working with a veteran with PTSD used a very gentle, trauma-informed gratitude practice. They never forced “I’m grateful for the trauma” narratives. Instead, they looked for tiny, present-moment anchors:

• “I’m grateful my dog is next to me while I talk about this.”
• “I’m grateful I made it to this appointment even though I wanted to cancel.”
• “I’m grateful I have skills now that I didn’t have back then.”

In this context, gratitude became a stabilizing tool. It grounded the veteran in the here-and-now, which is a core part of many trauma therapies. It’s a powerful example of gratitude & mental wellness that respects the reality of pain while still noticing what supports healing.

3. App-Based Gratitude Tracking in 2024–2025

In the last few years, mental health apps have exploded—and yes, many of them now include gratitude features. Some therapists are actually assigning app-based gratitude tracking between sessions.

A college student dealing with anxiety and insomnia used a mental health app that pinged her twice a day: “Name one thing you’re grateful for right now.” Sometimes it was “My hoodie is warm.” Sometimes it was “My roommate knocked on my door to check in.”

The point wasn’t depth; it was frequency. By logging these tiny moments, she began to see patterns: most of her gratitude entries involved connection with others, nature, or creative work. Her therapist used that data to help her build a more supportive daily routine.

Digital tools like this are one of the newer real examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples in therapy now often include some mix of journaling, letters, grounding, and app-based tracking.

How Gratitude Supports Mental Wellness Without Turning Into Toxic Positivity

Let’s be honest: gratitude can be misused. You’ve probably heard some version of, “Other people have it worse, you should be grateful.” That’s not mental wellness; that’s emotional shutdown.

Healthy examples of gratitude & mental wellness have a few things in common:

• They don’t deny pain. You can be grateful for your therapist and still furious about what happened to you.
• They are specific, not vague. “I’m grateful for everything” is nice, but “I’m grateful my friend answered my text at 2 a.m.” hits your nervous system differently.
• They are repeatable, not dramatic. The power is in the habit, not the grand gesture.

When used this way, gratitude does a few important things for mental health:

• It trains attention to notice what supports you, not just what threatens you.
• It strengthens social bonds, which are strongly tied to better mental and physical health (CDC).
• It provides a counterweight to constant stress and negativity without pretending problems don’t exist.

In other words, the best examples of gratitude & mental wellness—3 examples from your own life, if you started today—wouldn’t make your problems disappear. But they might make them more survivable.

Simple Ways to Create Your Own Examples of Gratitude & Mental Wellness

If you want to move from reading about examples of gratitude & mental wellness: 3 examples to actually living them, start small. Think of these as experiments, not self-improvement projects.

You might try:

• A morning or evening three-line journal, scribbled on scrap paper if that’s all you have.
• One specific thank-you text a day to someone in your life.
• A gratitude moment during an existing habit: while brushing your teeth, waiting for coffee, or sitting in traffic.
• A weekly gratitude check-in with a partner, roommate, or friend, where each of you names one thing you appreciated about the other that week.

If you’re in therapy, you can ask your therapist how gratitude might fit into your work together in a way that respects your history and your current capacity.

The goal isn’t to become a relentlessly positive person. It’s to build a small, steady practice of noticing what’s holding you up, even when everything feels heavy.

FAQ: Examples of Gratitude & Mental Wellness

Q: What are some simple examples of gratitude & mental wellness I can start today?
A: Three easy starters: write down three things you’re grateful for before bed, send one specific thank-you message to someone in your life, and, during your commute or a daily chore, name out loud one thing that went okay today. These are all real examples of gratitude & mental wellness that take under five minutes.

Q: Can you give an example of gratitude that doesn’t ignore real problems?
A: Yes. “I’m overwhelmed by medical bills, and I’m grateful my friend drove me to my appointment today.” That “and” is important. Healthy examples of gratitude don’t erase hardship; they sit alongside it.

Q: Do I have to write things down for gratitude to help my mental health?
A: Writing helps many people because it makes the practice concrete and easier to remember. But it’s not mandatory. Speaking gratitude out loud, sharing it with someone, or using an app to log it briefly are all valid examples of gratitude & mental wellness.

Q: How long does it take for a gratitude habit to affect mental wellness?
A: It varies, but some studies have found mood shifts within a few weeks of consistent practice. Think in terms of 2–4 weeks of small daily or weekly habits, not overnight transformation.

Q: Is gratitude recommended by mental health professionals?
A: Many therapists and psychiatrists now include gratitude practices as part of broader treatment plans, especially for stress, anxiety, and mild to moderate depression. It’s not a replacement for professional care when needed, but it can be a helpful, low-risk tool to support recovery.