How To Incorporate Gratitude And Reflection Practices To End 2025

With only a few weeks left until the end of the year, closing out on a positive note is usually on everyone’s agenda. By incorporating gratitude and reflection into your daily routine, you’ll grow to appreciate what you have, and whatever you receive after will be extra. If you aren’t sure where to begin on your journey of incorporating these practices into your daily life, Her Agenda has gathered 4 tips below.

Think back to moments that challenged you, opened your mind, and made you elevate. These are the moments that not only matter, but also back self-reflection and gratitude are pivotal. 

“Write down three specific moments that stretched you,” said Madeline Rose, Spiritual Life Coach, RYT-500 yoga and meditation instructor, breathwork facilitator, and co-host of the applied neuroscience podcast Rewired Woman. “Not in a general way like ‘it was stressful’, but the actual situations; Naming them helps calm the amygdala, which is the part of the brain that scans for emotional threats and keeps you on high alert. When you identify your challenges directly, you reduce the intensity your body holds around them.”

The saying “Give people their flowers while they can still smell them” resonates here. Don’t wait for a birthday, holiday, or special occasion to show your gratitude. Daily practices of gratitude mean going to visit family on a random Tuesday, an impromptu lunch date with an old friend, or an appreciative email to a mentor.

“Make gratitude active,” said Chanel Dokun, co-founder of Healthy Minds NYC, and author of Life Starts Now: How to Create the Life You’ve Been Waiting For. “While we tend to think of gratitude as an internally focused tool for reflection, we give it greater power when gratitude is given legs.”

Chanel says, instead of journaling at the end of the day about a few things you’re grateful for, keep a small set of stationery by your bedside and write a short thank-you note you can mail to someone in your life. Or wind down by sending a text message to a loved one with an expression of appreciation for them or something lovely that happened in your day. “When we pass our gratitude along, we make kindness and hope contagious,” says Chanel.

Whether we like to admit it or not, there is an inner race in all of us. We are on the go, trying to reach a goal from the start of the year to the end, and falling short of those goals, resting, or taking a break often produces guilt. However, taking a breather, resetting, and being grateful for the day are all key practices to get to your purpose. Reflection also comes into play when you slow down and realize all that you’ve accomplished. Gratitude means clapping for yourself.

“Daily gratitude starts with slowing ourselves down,” said Christine Samuel, Founder at Inner Work Matters. “So much of life is lived in a rush, and when we’re rushing, there’s very little space to reflect. Building a habit of gratitude really comes down to two things: learning to pause, and gently shifting our attention away from what feels wrong or not working toward what is actually supporting us.”

“Take time to look at what you may want to let go as you move into next year, whether it is a habit or expectation that didn’t serve you,” said Nancy Ryan, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Gottman Certified Therapist, and CEO at Relationship Therapy Center. “Try to look at what lessons you learned in this current year, even though they might have been hard lessons. What is something that you might want to keep moving into next year that worked well or that you appreciated? As you do this reflection, it is so important to just notice and not put a negative or self-critical slant on this.”

Gratitude and reflection won’t always be pretty. Sometimes you have to leave things and people behind to grow. Understanding that what you lose will be replaced is a part of gratitude. Reflect on what once was, but don’t get stuck there. A major part of growth is moving on and embracing what is at the moment.