About gratitude lists

I love that so many people have been publishing gratitude lists. I've heard a few different things about how to maximize the benefits, so I thought I would mention them and see if you have any thoughts on them.

I used to write down what I'm grateful for on little pieces of paper and put them in a "gratitude pouch", but then I learned that gratitude practice doesn't really work if you do it every day. Rather, you should do it once or twice a week. Can anyone confirm or debunk this? I can't find the study that talked about this; I think they mentioned it on the Greater Good website but I'm not sure.

Also, I've just learned on The Psychology Podcast (the episode with Sonja Lyubomirsky) that gratitude practice works best in the form of essays rather than in the form of lists. I don't think this necessarily means you shouldn't make gratitude lists, it probably just means you should be more elaborate. That was part of the reason I stopped the gratitude pouch: I had learned that just writing down what you're grateful for wasn't as efficient as describing it in detail. So when you come up with something, add "because..." and write at least one or two sentences about it. Also, on the same podcast episode, I think the guest mentioned that the optimal number of things to be grateful for was eight, and that coming up with too many things can in fact make you feel less grateful.

I'm grateful for NotePD because it pushes me to be more creative, brings me energy and motivation, and it allows me to be exposed to tons of interesting ideas from smart and creative people. It's a great tool to get a little bit more happiness, and possibly a lot more success.

I've also heard that there can be a dark side to gratitude practice, if you're really forcing yourself when you should actually allow yourself to feel like shit. On the other hand, I've also heard that the simple act of looking for something to be grateful for is enough, even without finding anything. So this is all a bit confusing.

As to whether you should do it every day or every week, I'm waiting to learn more about it. I remember someone saying that if it's every day, you just get used to it, like a drug, so it doesn't do anything to you anymore. The problem is that I've found it harder to stick to it weekly rather than daily.

What do you think? Should you do it every day? How elaborate should you be? Or does none of this matter?

I'm grateful that you've read this far.

Because it's nice to share my thoughts with the world and knowing that some people might get something out of them, and it's fun to contribute to this community and exchange with cool people. It's stimulating!