Every day, take a few minutes to offer words of gratitude to yourself for who you are and the things you do for yourself. Acknowledging how your body helps you achieve the things you want can lead to higher self-esteem and self-worth. Be honest and sincere, and then pay attention to the effect that it has on you.

I take this exercise seriously, but I am honest, so the things I am grateful for don’t have to be. I try to maintain a lighthearted approach, because what I am grateful for today may be the opposite of what I was grateful for yesterday. For instance, this morning I was grateful that I did not have knee pain because I was meeting friends and wanted to walk to and from my destination. Last week, I was grateful that my knees were hurting because I could say no to doing some extra work with a friend on my day off without feeling guilty.

Being honest about what we like about how we think, feel, and look is a small gift that we have every right to give ourselves.