I want you to imagine a day when everything feels off — your energy is low, symptoms are louder, the changes around you feel heavy. You wonder: How can I shift something that feels so out of control?
Here’s something you might not expect: cultivating gratitude — yes, gratitude — can be a subtle but powerful way to help anchor your body, your mind, and your spirit during perimenopause and seasons of change.
In this post, we’ll talk about:
- How gratitude is more than a “feel-good” habit — it has measurable effects on mood, stress, sleep, and brain health
- Why gratitude can be especially helpful when life is hard or unpredictable
- How to set a meaningful gratitude goal this November (and share it)
- How my gratitude journals and guided tools can support you in this practice
🧠 The Science of Gratitude: Why It’s Not Just “Feel-Good”
Gratitude isn’t just fluff — research over the past decade has shown it has real, measurable benefits.
- A systematic review found that gratitude interventions (journaling, reflecting) led to more positive mood, greater life satisfaction, and lower anxiety and depression symptoms. PMC
- Gratitude has also been linked with improved sleep quality, lower stress, and better emotional health. Harvard Health+3UCLA Health+3Mindful+3
- Neuroscientists are discovering that gratitude activates brain regions tied to reward and emotional regulation — reinforcing that practice rewires how we respond. PositivePsychology.com
In short: gratitude helps your brain and body see what’s good, even when storms are raging. It can buffer stress, soften worry, and invite perspective — all things we desperately need during midlife shifts.
🌸 Gratitude & Perimenopause: What It Can Do for Your Symptoms
You might wonder: Can gratitude really help with hot flashes, mood swings, or fatigue? I believe yes — indirectly but powerfully. Here’s how:
- Stress & Nervous System Regulation
Stress and cortisol often worsen symptoms. Gratitude practice helps tilt you toward your parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) response, calming your system. Mindful+1 - Mood & Emotional Resilience
In times of change, negative emotions often dominate. Gratitude doesn’t cancel them — but it widens your lens to see good alongside the hard. That shift weakens the grip of worry, irritability, or despair. - Sleep & Rest
Focusing on positive reflections before bed helps quiet intrusive thoughts and supports better sleep. Some studies suggest gratitude is tied to better restful sleep quality. UCLA Health+2UCLA Health+2 - Perspective & Growth
When life feels chaotic, gratitude helps you find meaning in the cracks — perhaps hidden gifts, lessons, renewed priorities, strength you didn’t know you had. This mindset helps you move through the change rather than resisting.
So while gratitude won’t instantly erase symptoms — it can create an environment inside you that supports your body through them.
🗓 Planning Your Gratitude Practice in November
I want to challenge you to a month of practicing gratitude! November, and the start of the holiday season, is the perfect time to carve out breaks in your day/week to focus in on what you are grateful for and work at rewiring your brain to focus on, and look for life's blessings, even in the chaos. Will you join me in setting a goal to practice gratitude??
Let’s make this tangible and achievable for you.
1. Choose Your Frequency & Specifics
Decide where and when you’ll practice gratitude. e.g.
- 3 days/week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)
- Or 5 days/week — every morning except weekends
Pick when you’ll do it (morning, midday, before bed)
Decide how long — 3 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes — whatever is doable for you - Where will you do your gratitude practice at? Choose a quiet place where you won't be bothered and there won't be distractions. Have your pen/pencil and journal there waiting for you so it is easy to sit down and get started.
2. Pick Your Format
- Journal (list 3–5 things)
- Guided prompt (e.g. “What surprised me today?”)
- Gratitude letter or note
- Using my 30-Days of Joy journal, Finding Peace & Purpose journal, or Color Me Grateful (affirmations + coloring) can help take the guess work out of what you will write and guide you through a time of gratefulness.
3. Share Your Goal
Drop your goal in the comments:
“I will practice gratitude ___ days a week (___, ___, ___), at ____ (time), for ____ minutes.”
Let’s encourage each other and hold space together. 💛
“I will practice gratitude ___ days a week (___, ___, ___), at ____ (time), for ____ minutes.”
Let’s encourage each other and hold space together. 💛
4. Track & Notice
Keep a tracker (digital, paper, or inside your journal). Each day, note how you felt: more calm? mood lift? less anxiety? small joys?
5. Celebrate Progress
At the end of each week, pause. Acknowledge yourself. Even if you didn’t hit every day — you showed up, and that matters.
📚 My Three Favorite Gratitude Tools (You Can Use This Month)
If you’d like extra support, here are three gratitude tools I’ve created that many in this community love:
- 30-Days of Joy (Guided Journal) — one prompt for every single day, to help you notice beauty, blessings, and small pleasures
- Finding Peace & Purpose During Perimenopause (3-Month Journal) — deeper prompts, reflection across months — built especially for midlife change
- Color Me Grateful (Coloring + Daily Affirmations) — combines visual rest + gratitude prompts in a soothing, creative format
You could use one exclusively, or blend them (morning prompt + evening coloring, etc.).
💬 Invitation & Call to Action
This November, let’s lean into gratitude together. Let that be our bridge into hope, even when things feel raw, confusing, or overwhelming.
Drop your gratitude goal in the comments below. (Yes — I’ll cheer you on!)
If any of the journals or the coloring book above resonates — I hope they support you daily. And inside The Pause Party, we’ll have accountability, reflections, and live prompts to keep your practice alive.
Here’s to noticing the light, even when the path is dim. 💫
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