Gratitude List: 100 Things to Be Grateful For, Grouped

The basics

What a gratitude list is, and why most stop working

A gratitude list is a short written record of things you are thankful for: people, moments, comforts, lucky breaks. You can write one once and keep it on the fridge, or write a fresh one each evening as a small habit. Either way, the point is to notice good things on purpose instead of letting them pass unremarked.

Most people start strong and stall within two weeks. The reason is usually the list itself. “Family, health, coffee, my home” is true on the first night and on the fortieth, so by the fortieth it feels like a chore. The lists that last are the ones where each line could only have been written on that day.

That is why this page gives you two things. First, a list of 100 things to be grateful for, grouped, so you have somewhere to look on a blank night. Second, a way to turn any item on it into a line that still means something when you read it back. If you want the wider habit, our gratitude journal guide covers how to keep one going past the first month.

Method

How to write a gratitude list that keeps meaning something

The research on gratitude writing is encouraging. In a ten-week study by psychologists Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, reported by Harvard Health, people who wrote each week about things they were grateful for were more optimistic and felt better about their lives than people who wrote about irritations. It is not a cure for anything, and studies like this show an association, not proof.

How you write matters more than how much. Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center collected research-based tips from Emmons, and four of them change what a gratitude list should look like:

Depth over breadth. Writing in detail about one thing carries more benefit than a superficial list of many things.
People over things. Focusing on people you are grateful to has more impact than focusing on objects.
Subtraction, not only addition. Picture your life without something good, rather than just tallying it.
Surprises. Unexpected events tend to bring out stronger gratitude than the things you count on.

The same article adds one more that surprises people: writing once or twice a week was more beneficial than writing every day. A list of twenty things written in a minute feels good once; one thing written in detail feels good again when you read it back.

The list, part one

Things to be grateful for: people, body, home, food, work

The first fifty things on this gratitude list are the ones closest to you. People come first because they are the group the research singles out.

People

The friend who texts back the same day
A colleague who covered for you without being asked
A habit you picked up from a parent or grandparent
The neighbour who brings your bins in
A teacher who saw something in you early
Whoever taught you to cook one dish well
A stranger who held a door, a lift or a train
The person you could call at two in the morning
A private joke with a brother or sister
Whoever made the coffee this morning

Body and health

A night of sleep that lasted until the alarm
Legs that carried you up the stairs
A cold that finally passed
Eyes that can read this sentence
The first deep breath outside after a long day in
Hands that can write, type, knit or fix things
A meal you could taste properly
A clear answer from a doctor
Stretching after sitting too long
Laughing until it hurt

Home

Hot water whenever you turn the tap
A bed with clean sheets
The one chair that fits you
A lock on the door
Light through one particular window
A drawer that finally closes
The quiet after everyone is asleep
A dry roof in heavy rain
A warm room on a cold morning
Coming home and knowing exactly where everything is

Food and drink

The first coffee or tea of the day
Bread that is still warm
Fruit in season
A recipe someone wrote down for you
Leftovers that taste better on day two
Clean water from the tap
A meal someone else cooked
Salt on a ripe tomato
A table with more than one person at it
Soup when you are ill

Work and learning

Work that pays the bills
A colleague who explains instead of sighing
The task you finally finished
A skill that took years and now takes seconds
A library card
A book that changed your mind
A manager who said thank you
Feedback that stung and then helped
A commute with time to think
The day off you earned

A list of twenty things written in a minute feels good once; one thing written in detail feels good again when you read it back.Method

The list, part two

More things to be grateful for: the wider world and harder days

The second fifty reach further out, and include the group most lists leave off: things to be grateful for when the week has been hard. Those are often the lines that matter most when you read them back.

Nature and outdoors

The first warm day of spring
Rain on the window while you are indoors
A tree you pass every day
Frost on the grass
The smell of the street after a storm
A walk with no destination
Birdsong before the traffic starts
Long summer evenings
The view from a hill you climbed
The moon on a clear night

Small moments

A green light when you were running late
Money found in a coat pocket
A song you forgot you loved
An empty seat on a full train
A parcel that arrived early
A pen that writes well
Someone remembering your name
Ten minutes with nothing to do
The last slice of something you like
Clean socks

Hard times

A problem that turned out smaller than you feared
Someone who sat with you and did not try to fix it
A mistake you can still put right
A loss that showed you what mattered
The friend who stayed
Getting through a week you dreaded
Help you were too proud to ask for, and got anyway
An apology, given or received
Test results that came back clear
Knowing you have come through worse

Growth and yourself

A habit you kept for a month
Saying no and meaning it
An opinion you changed
Patience you did not have five years ago
A fear you faced once
Your sense of humour
Curiosity that still switches on
Something you made with your own hands
A boundary that held
Being kinder to yourself than last year

Ordinary freedoms

Reading whatever you like
Choosing your own work
Public parks
Libraries, free to anyone
A road out of town when you need one
Saying what you think
A hospital that is open at night
Electricity at the flick of a switch
A vote that counts
A day of rest

Examples

Gratitude list examples: from a category to a line

Every item above is a category. Written as is, it will feel flat by the second week. The fix is to add who, when and why, so the line could only belong to one day. Here is what that looks like for seven items from the list.

From the list	Written as a specific line
The friend who texts back	Maya texted at lunch to ask how the interview went. She had remembered the date.
A night of sleep	Slept from eleven to the alarm, the first full night this week.
A warm room	The hall radiator came on at six, so the floor was warm under bare feet.
A recipe written down	Dad’s lentil soup from the card in his handwriting tasted the way his did.
A manager who said thank you	The report went out at four and Sam replied with one line: this is clear.
Frost on the grass	First frost on the car this morning, and the whole street went quiet and white.
Test results	The scan came back clear after three weeks of waiting for that one sentence.

Notice what the right-hand column does. Most lines name a person, a time or a detail you could photograph. Several carry a little subtraction too: the soup matters because the cook is not always there, and the scan matters because of the three weeks before it. Those are the moves the research points to, and they are why these gratitude list examples still read as true a year later.

Routine

A daily gratitude list in two minutes

If you want a daily gratitude list rather than a one-off, the best-studied version is called three good things. In the practice as Greater Good in Action describes it, you write down three things that went well each day for at least a week, and explain why each one went well. It also stresses writing them down rather than only thinking them.

The “why” is what turns a list into something you actually think about. “Dinner with Jo” becomes “dinner with Jo, because she moved her shift to make it.” A routine that holds:

Tie it to something you already do each evening, like brushing your teeth or setting an alarm.
Write three things from today, one line each, and add the reason after a comma.
If nothing comes, scan one group from the list above and ask which of those happened today.
After a week, try it two or three nights a week instead of every night, and see which keeps the entries fresher.

Our free printable gratitude pages include a day page built for exactly this: three good things, a prompt and a kindness given or received, plus thirty starter prompts and a thank-you letter page. They come in US Letter, A4 and A5. On nights when a list will not come at all, a question works better than a category, and our gratitude journal prompts are written for those nights.

Format

Where to keep your gratitude list

The best place is the one you can open in ten seconds at the moment you remember. For most people that means one of four places:

A card on the fridge or desk. Good for a one-off list you want to see every day. Rewrite it each season so it does not fade into the background.
A notebook by the bed. The classic daily list. Printed pages from our printable journal pages work if you want lines and a little structure.
Your phone’s notes app. Always with you, easy to search later, easy to skip. Write the reason, not only the item.
A tablet you write on by hand. An iPad with a notes app or an e-ink tablet gives you handwriting with no stack of paper to store.

If you would rather follow a structure for a full year, A Year of Gratitude is our undated gratitude journal ($29): 365 prompts in twelve chapters, three good things and a kindness each day, and thank-you letter pages, with iPad, e-ink and printable editions in one download. The free pages above are the right place to find out whether the habit suits you first.

Gratitude lists are personal, and what you would put first is probably not on ours. Tell us in the comments what is at the top of yours, or which item from this list you would swap out. The most useful additions we get come from readers, and we fold the good ones into the next update.

FAQ

Common questions, answered briefly

What is a gratitude list?

A short written record of things you are thankful for, such as people, moments, comforts and lucky breaks. Some people write one list and keep it in sight; others write a fresh one each evening as a habit.

What should I put on a gratitude list?

Start with people, then your body and health, home, food, work, nature, small moments, hard times you came through, ways you have grown and ordinary freedoms. Write each item as a specific line with a name, a time or a reason.

How many things should be on a gratitude list?

Fewer than you think. Research summarised by Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center found that writing one thing in detail carries more benefit than a long, quick list. Three items with a reason each is a good daily size.

How often should I write a gratitude list?

The three good things practice runs every day for at least a week. After that, the Greater Good tips suggest once or twice a week can be more beneficial than daily, because the entries stay fresh.

What is the difference between a gratitude list and a gratitude journal?

A gratitude list is the items themselves, usually short lines. A gratitude journal is the place you keep them over time, often with prompts, longer entries and pages to read back each month.

If yours isn’t above, drop the question in the comments and we’ll add it.