An Attitude of Gratitude
Having an attitude of gratitude has been shown in research to have significant positive health effects on mental health and wellbeing. It's termed in different ways; finding the good, counting your blessings, seeing the silver lining. It is not to be confused with ‘positive affirmations’ (which is often used when you are trying to convince yourself of something which you deep down don’t believe. This is not helpful and it can, in fact, worsen your mood). Having gratitude for ‘what is’ however, is an effective and useful tool to improve mood, decrease anxiety, reduce stress in some studies has been shown to reduce doctor visits, lower blood pressure, improve resilience and well, tends to make us more grateful.
It’s simple and it is powerful.
“Gratitude predicted greater subjective sleep quality and sleep duration”. (Wood et al. 2009)
The Happier Human website has a wonderful summary which lists all things including decreasing depressive symptoms (by a whooping over 30%), increased exercise, reduced physical pain in chronic pain suffers and promoted an induction of the relaxation response (which has a myriad of health benefits).
What makes it so effective? Getting in the habit of focusing on things to be grateful for, slowly but surely retrains your brain to focus on the positive. You start to notice and pay attention to things which you are grateful for throughout your day which in turn becomes a habitual way of viewing your world. How this relates to so many physical health improvements is not quite so easy to understand, but the results seem to speak for themselves.
Seeing the beauty in the mundane... Oxalis weed with caterpillar
How to do it?
Select a journal or pad of paper, but one that is going to be kept just for this purpose.
Label it ‘Gratitude’ or 'Things I am grateful for'.
Preferably before you go to bed, sit and list at least three things that you are grateful for that you noticed for that day.
Spend a bit of time on each one. Why you are grateful for these things? How does it make you feel?
Do this every night for a few nights and then regularly thereafter. If you have someone you can share this exercise with - even better.
Once you have done this a few nights in a row, research suggests to use the gratitude exercise a few times a week (as opposed to every night) - it has a greater impact and is less likely to become a chore.
It's not necessarily an easy task. Sometimes you have to dig a little. We all know those days when nothing appears to have gone right. Sometimes you might even need to go down the ‘well the car broke down, but I was thankful that someone stopped to help'. Or ‘I was thankful it wasn’t raining' when the car broke down.
Personally - I go for the very simple; examples from my list would include: I felt the sun on my skin today, it’s been a while, it reminds me that spring is around the corner; I noticed the flower that looked perfect in the garden, it was beautiful and had a lovely fragrance; the rain overnight watered the garden so I didn't have to.
I may have had a delicious meal, a very good coffee, a conversation with a friend or something made me laugh.
(I once had to do this exercise and list 50 things, every day, for three days. Believe you me, after the obvious, you get inventive!)
Other things such as simply writing a thank you note, letting someone know how much you appreciate them also embrace the concept of gratitude. Taking on an attitude of gratitude gets into our very being, assisting us to become more positive, improving our mood. It can extend out and affect our relationships, our work ethic and how much exercise we do. Gratitude has also even been linked to improved responses of our immune function.
For a quick regular gratitude fix - stop at any moment during any time of the day and ask yourself: "What three things am I grateful for right in this moment?" or even "What is perfect about my life right now?" After a while, you notice that you will do it naturally. People will think you are a little crazy as you make a comment on the sun or the flower or the bird song – but you can gently smile to yourself, knowing that the attitude of gratitude will make your day.
It is, after all, the little things that count…
References:
Jiang, D., Chiu, M. M., & Liu, S. (2021). Daily Positive Support and Perceived Stress During COVID-19 Outbreak: The Role of Daily Gratitude Within Couples. Journal of happiness studies, 1–15. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00387-0
Watkins, P. C., Woodward, K., Stone, T., & Kolts, R. L. (2003). Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude and relationships with subjective well-being. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 31(5), 431-452.
Emmons, R. A., & Mishra, A. (2012). Why gratitude enhances well-being: What we know, what we need to know. In Sheldon, K., Kashdan, T., & Steger, M.F. (Eds.) Designing the future of positive psychology: Taking stock and moving forward. New York: Oxford University Press.
Volume 31 Issue 5 | e1266 | Published: August 2003 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2003.31.5.431
Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2010). Gratitude and well being: the benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry (Edgmont (Pa. : Township)), 7(11), 18–22.
Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., Lloyd, J., & Atkins, S. (2009). Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. Journal of psychosomatic research, 66(1), 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2008.09.002
Happier Human; 31 Benefits of Gratitude: The Ultimate Science-Backed Guide https://www.happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/