Practicing Gratitude: It’s Not Just For Thanksgiving

Below is a revised copy of my previous blog detailing the benefits of practicing gratitude. It has been updated to reflect new research and additional strategies for practicing gratitude.

Practicing Gratitude: It’s Not Just For Thanksgiving

Beyond watching football, parades, and overeating, Thanksgiving is dedicated to giving thanks for our blessings. Many families have a tradition of going around the table so everyone can share what they are grateful for that year. Research on gratitude reveals that practicing it has many benefits, which begs the question: why only express gratitude on Thanksgiving?

Thanksgiving - A Short History

The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in 1621, following their first year in their new home, a year that had been one of famine, disease, and death. Having finally experienced a bountiful harvest, the Pilgrims held a celebratory meal to give thanks that they had made it through a challenging time.

Thanksgiving became a national holiday in 1863 during the Civil War. In 1941, less than three weeks after Pearl Harbor, Thanksgiving became a holiday on the fourth Thursday in November. During these difficult times, Presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt recognized that expressing gratitude would positively impact the country. It promoted unity and hope.

What Is Gratitude?

Gratitude has been defined as “a sense of wonder, thankfulness, and appreciation for life.” There are two related steps to gratitude.

1. Acknowledging the good in our lives, such as the people we love, good health, food to eat, a home, etc.

2. Recognizing that the source of these blessings is, to some extent, outside of our own doing. Thus, when we acknowledge the good things in our lives, we recognize that we are not the only reason for this goodness. Gratitude has an interpersonal component, allowing us to acknowledge others when we give thanks.

Psychological Impact

Practicing gratitude is linked to lower rates of depression and strengthening positive emotional states such as optimism and tranquility. Practicing gratitude helps to regulate emotions. Feeling grateful can inoculate us from stress and minimize the impact of toxic emotions such as envy and resentment.

One study found that Vietnam War veterans who practiced gratitude had lower rates of post-traumatic stress disorder. Recognizing that you have things to be grateful for, even in challenging times, fosters resilience.

One study found a connection between practicing gratitude and a greater appreciation of nature. Feeling attuned to nature reduces stress and promotes a feeling of overall calm.

Physical Impact

Healthwise, practicing gratitude promotes more robust immune systems and fewer stress-related illnesses. They also have healthier hearts. Those who practice gratitude report sleeping better and engaging in exercise more than people who do not practice giving thanks. Grateful people are more likely to care for their health, contributing to greater longevity.

Other physical benefits of gratitude include reduced symptoms of physical pain, lower blood pressure, better sleep quality, and overall better cardiac health. In one recent study, subjects who had high levels of gratitude had a 9% lower risk of death of any cause, including cancer and neurodegenerative disease.

In one study, practicing gratitude lessened the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 15%.

One study reported that grateful teens were less likely to smoke or become smokers. Adults who already smoked and practiced gratitude were more likely to quit. This relationship was seen to lower intentions to use drugs regardless of age. Practicing gratitude may be a tool that can be especially helpful in helping teenagers avoid using drugs.

Gratitude Can Change Our Brain

Another fantastic benefit of gratitude is that it changes how our brains adapt to the world. Specifically, when we practice gratitude, the parasympathetic nervous system, which is a calming center, is triggered and releases neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and dopamine, which help to de-stress us while elevating our mood.

Social Impact

Practicing gratitude can also impact the quality of our relationships by strengthening our bonds with others. Practicing gratitude promotes a feeling of social belonging and less loneliness. It can help reduce resentment and foster forgiveness. Expressing gratitude can foster a sense of altruism, making us more likely to donate to charity and engage in volunteer work.

Living with an attitude of expressing gratitude helps us behave more kinder to others. Reduced likelihood of aggression and displaying more sensitivity and empathy to others is also a benefit of gratitude. In short, gratitude helps us behave in a prosocial way. Individuals who feel appreciated by their partner are more confident, satisfied, and committed.

One study found a connection between practicing gratitude and a greater appreciation of nature. Feeling attuned to nature reduces stress and promotes a feeling of overall calm.

Some Gratitude Practices

Gratitude is a compelling emotion that pays dividends for all. How can we experience its benefits?

Specific gratitude practices can get you started on the road to giving thanks, showing appreciation for the goodness in your life, and partaking in the benefits of this emotion. Here are some that you can consider implementing on your gratitude journey.

Three Good Things

Getting caught up in things that can go wrong and taking the good things and people in our lives for granted is easy. As a result, we can overlook many good things.

Write down three things that went well each day for at least one week. This is more beneficial than simply doing this exercise in your head. The items can range from small, everyday events to more important milestones (e.g., “My partner made the coffee today,” “My grandparents were happy when I brought them groceries,” or “I earned a big promotion”).

As you write, try these tips.

Give the event a title. “I received a compliment on something I have been working on,” or “Someone gave me their place in line at the grocery store.”

Write down what happened in as much detail as possible, including where you were, what you did or said, and, if others were involved, what they did or said.

Include how this event made you feel at the time and how it made you feel later (including as you write it).

Explain what you think caused this event and why it happened.

Use your unique writing style. Do not worry about grammar or spelling. Use as much detail as you would like.

If you find yourself dwelling on negative feelings, try to refocus your mind on the good event and the positive feelings that came with it. This can take effort, but it gets easier with practice and can make a real difference in how you feel. In doing this, we want to train our brain to orient itself to the good things in our lives rather than directing our attention to negative ones.

It is easier to cultivate a deep feeling of gratitude by noticing good things as they occur and savoring them, then reflecting on them in hindsight. This can increase your overall happiness and well-being.

Gratitude Journal

Keeping a journal of things we are grateful for takes more time than the ‘Three Good Things’ exercise above because we write about more information, but it can be done every other day or so. Each entry should ideally cover the period since the previous one and include at least five things we feel grateful about.

Here are four tips for keeping a gratitude journal.

Writing in your gratitude journal just before bed can help improve sleep. When our head hits the pillow, sometimes we think of things we did not get done or worry about what will happen tomorrow. Writing down your blessings before bed can switch off those thoughts, reduce stress, and help you fall asleep because you are thinking about good things.

On the other hand, maybe you find that writing in your gratitude journal about your previous day first thing in the morning starts you off on the right foot for the new day. Alternatively, perhaps jotting down what you are thankful for at lunchtime energizes and boosts you. Find a time that works for you whenever you are most likely to do it.

Start with a goal of writing three things in each gratitude journal entry. Did you wake up today? Did you have hot water to take a shower? Do you have a roof over your head? Maybe you did not win the lottery, but if you can get back to the basics, you will start to notice all the little things you take for granted without even noticing.

Maybe someone let you merge in on the highway instead of blowing right by. Perhaps someone complimented you, or you felt good about complimenting someone else. Maybe you enjoyed a quick walk around the block in the sun. A gratitude journal helps you be more present as you are more aware of the goodness in your life as you are experiencing it.

Try not to overcomplicate it, but the more details you can write about a positive experience, the better you will remember it. Details are powerful because the mind cannot distinguish between real-time and imaginary time. You experience the same mind-body response writing out the details as you did living it!

For example, maybe you enjoyed your cup of coffee this morning. Was it hot or iced? What mug did you use? Where did you sit when you enjoyed it? As you write about the details of a positive experience, you relive it. We constantly revisit adverse incidents in our heads, so why not focus on a positive one instead?

Writing a gratitude journal will help you begin noticing yourself [self-aware?] and appreciating the positive aspects of your life while putting the negative ones into better perspective.

Day of Thanks

Over the next week or month, choose a day to serve as your personal Thanksgiving. On that day, go out of your way to express gratitude to anyone who treats you kindly, even for small acts. Someone might have held the door for you or asked how you were doing. Afterward, write about it, noting whom you thanked and what it was like to express gratitude.

Expressing positive feelings directly to people around us can reinforce our recognition that good things are happening in our lives, bolster gratitude for them, and strengthen positive emotions, all of which help our well-being.

Six Questions To Evoke Gratitude

We all have days when we do not feel particularly grateful. However, if we ask ourselves specific questions, it can help stimulate feelings of gratitude. Examples of such questions can include:

·        What happened today that was good?

·        What am I taking for granted that I can be thankful for?

·        Which people in my life am I grateful for?

·        What is the last book, movie, or T. V. show I saw that I appreciated and why?

·        What am I most looking forward to this week, month, and year, and why?

·         What is the kindest thing someone has said to me or done for me lately?

Gratitude Practices For Children

The benefits of gratitude do not have to be limited to adults. In fact, not only do children and teenagers who practice gratitude derive the same benefits as adults, but it helps kids perform better academically and show more compassion for their peers. Below are a few gratitude practices designed especially for children and teens.

Pick Up Sticks Game

This is a variant of the pick-up sticks game in which a pile of colored sticks is dropped on a table or floor, and each player has to pick up a stick without moving the surrounding ones. The player with the most sticks wins.

To infuse this game with gratitude, add a twist. Every time someone picks up a stick successfully, they have to name something they are grateful for, such as people, places, food, an object, or anything of the child’s choice.

Gratitude Collage

Children can look through magazines or draw pictures to create a collage of things that make them feel thankful. Encourage them to provide any details they can recall about what they created. If this is done at home, the collage can find a home on the fridge; if it is done in a classroom setting, the collages of all the students can create a gratitude bulletin board for the class.

Gratitude ABCs

Have a sheet of paper with the alphabet in a column going down the left margin with a blank line following each letter. Ask the child to write something they are grateful for that begins with the letter on each line. An adult can create an alphabetical list, which can help the child recall examples of things that make them feel grateful.

Gratitude Scavenger Hunt

Create a list of items children can collect from around the house or classroom, and discuss why they are grateful for them. Prompts can include finding something that makes you laugh, be proud of yourself, keep you healthy, or bring you joy. The child can talk about their thoughts and feelings about the item and how their life would be different without it.

A Final Word

Practicing gratitude can become a habit and one with far-reaching effects. Both the person expressing gratitude and the one receiving that expression (sometimes being surprised by the acknowledgment!) can reap benefits that can far surpass the reason for the gratitude in the first place.

Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other, a sentiment neatly summed up by the author Zig Zigler

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”