Imagine you’re standing near a pond, watching a shimmering Southern Hawker Dragonfly darting between the reeds. The late afternoon sun slants through its wings, a breeze ripples the water, and the water reflects the light. In that moment you pause, notice, and let your attention linger. That pause, and the noticing, is fertile ground.
In this piece I ask: why does being grateful for the natural world matter? What happens when we train ourselves to notice ‘good things’ in Nature? To start with, we look at the foundations of gratitude in positive psychology, and some new research.
Foundations of gratitude from positive psychology
Gratitude has become a central tool in positive psychology for enhancing wellbeing. Researchers including Dacher Keltner have explored gratitude (and related emotions such as awe) as important for flourishing. Some key points:
- Gratitude helps shift our attention from what we lack to what we have, what’s good or supportive in our lives.
- Doing gratitude practices (such as journaling three things you are grateful for each day) has been associated with greater positive affect, life satisfaction, even improved physical health.
- Gratitude (and its close companion, awe) foster broader connections: to others, to something larger than ourselves, and to meaning in life.
Thus, gratitude practice can be seen as an evidence-based route to wellbeing, connection, meaning, and prosocial orientation. Studies have shown that the physiology of the brain can change in response to gratitude practices, creating lasting happiness and contentment, as well as positive moral and social outlooks.
Some of my clients love gratitude practices. Others don’t – they find it gets repetitive, or dull, over time – or they find it very difficult to be grateful for anything at all. So what if we try something else?
Noticing good things in Nature: a nature-based gratitude practice
What if we look for things to be grateful about in the world around us instead? A new research study by Passmore et al. (2025) has shown that noticing three good things in Nature (3GTiN) boosted emotional balance and life satisfaction as much as the traditional ‘three good things’ (3GT) practice from positive psychology.
There were additional benefits too.
- 3GTiN also boosted nature connectedness, a strong predictor of pro-environmental behaviour.
- The practice provided additional benefits in terms of how connected people felt to other people – and life itself. In other words there was a sense of ‘transcendence’ and uplifted emotion, that (in the words of co-author Myles Richardson, “doesn’t just make us feel good, it can make us better people”.
- There may even be a positive feedback loop. In other words, by taking more action for Nature in daily life, we connect more deeply, have a stronger relationship with ourselves, others and the environment, and wish to do more in return.
A practice: ‘Being Grateful’ in Nature
Our book Being in Nature introduces a subtle but powerful practice: ‘Being grateful’, inspired by the Southern Hawker. The practice encourages people to adopt a dragonfly’s perspective—alert, present, carefully curious of the world around us. It invites us to consider what we are grateful for in Nature.
The practice bridges two fields: gratitude (from positive psychology) and nature-noticing (from nature-based wellbeing research). It invites a hybrid: daily gratitude for Nature or in Nature, shifting the frame from “what good things happened to me” to “what good things in Nature did I notice and appreciate”.
As in the research from Passmore et al., so people who have tried this practice report noticing wildlife, calming sounds and colours, blue skies, pretty clouds, soothing breezes. Elements we can find around us wherever we are – from a window, in a city street, by the sea. A practice that is available for everyone.
How to do “Being grateful in Nature”
Here is a suggested practice to try.
- Choose your moment: Pick a moment—walking, sitting, commuting, in a garden or even through a window. Make it regular, but mix it up – different times of day, days of the week, etc.
- Pause and look: Let your attention wander around you and ask: What good thing in nature do I notice right now? It could be the pattern of light through a leaf, a bird’s song, the feel of wind, an insect, a tree silhouette, the changing sky.
- Name it: Write it down or silently name it.
- Feel gratitude: Pause and feel gratitude for it. You might offer thanks to the things you noticed.
- Reflect briefly: How did it make you feel, or what did it make you think? Did you sense connection, wonder, uplift, peace?
- Set an intention: Consider what you can do in return. “I will care for this place”, “I will share this noticing”, etc.
Closing thoughts
In a world where we’re often rushed and disconnected from the natural rhythms of life, the simple act of noticing good things in Nature is both revolutionary and restorative. It invites us to slow, to open our senses, to lean into gratitude, to remember our place in a larger web of life.
Thanks to researchers like Dacher Keltner, Holli-Anne Passmore, Myles Richardson and others, we now have evidence that such practices aren’t just ‘nice to have’, they are meaningful interventions for human flourishing, connection and even environmental engagement.
Our ‘Being grateful’ practice takes this evidence and turns it into an accessible regular ritual. Inspired by the dragonfly’s alert wings and shimmering presence, it invites us to live with eyes open, notice the good around us, and let that noticing shape how we feel, how we connect, and how we act.
Here’s to noticing the dragonflies, tipping a hat to some dew-tipped grass, and saluting a robin – and being grateful for them.
Links to further reading
Being in Nature book https://natureconnectionbooks.com/product/book/
3 good things in nature article https://findingnature.org.uk/2025/10/06/improving-connections-to-nature-life-and-people/
A neuroscientific perspective on gratitude https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/#what-is-gratitude-a-neuroscientific-perspective
Passmore et al., International Journal of Wellbeing paper https://www.internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/4233
Photo: Southern Hawker in flight, James West, Flickr