By Marelisa Fabrega
If the only prayer you say in your life is ‘thank you,’ that would suffice. – Meister Eckhart
Gratitude means thankfulness, counting your blessings, noticing simple pleasures, and acknowledging everything that you receive. It means learning to live your life as if everything were a miracle, and being aware on a continuous basis of how much you’ve been given. Gratitude shifts your focus from what your life lacks to the abundance that is already present. In addition, behavioral and psychological research has shown the surprising life improvements that can stem from the practice of gratitude. Giving thanks makes people happier and more resilient, it strengthens relationships, it improves health, and it reduces stress.
Research Shows Gratitude Heightens Quality of Life
Two psychologists, Michael McCollough of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, wrote an article about an experiment they conducted on gratitude and its impact on well-being. The study split several hundred people into three different groups and all of the participants were asked to keep daily diaries. The first group kept a diary of the events that occurred during the day without being told specifically to write about either good or bad things; the second group was told to record their unpleasant experiences; and the last group was instructed to make a daily list of things for which they were grateful. The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy. In addition, those in the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, were more likely to help others, exercised more regularly, and made greater progress toward achieving personal goals.
Dr. Emmons – who has been studying gratitude for almost ten years and is considered by many to be the world’s leading authority on gratitude – is author of the book, “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier
In addition, Dr. Emmons’ research shows that those who practice gratitude tend to be more creative, bounce back more quickly from adversity, have a stronger immune system, and have stronger social relationships than those who don’t practice gratitude. He further points out that “To say we feel grateful is not to say that everything in our lives is necessarily great. It just means we are aware of our blessings.”
Notice and Appreciate Each Day’s 
Gifts
People tend to take for granted the good that is already present in their lives. There’s a gratitude exercise that instructs that you should imagine losing some of the things that you take for granted, such as your home, your ability to see or hear, your ability to walk, or anything that currently gives you comfort. Then imagine getting each of these things back, one by one, and consider how grateful you would be for each and every one. In addition, you need to start finding joy in the small things instead of holding out for big achievements—such as getting the promotion, having a comfortable nest egg saved up, getting married, having the baby, and so on–before allowing yourself to feel gratitude and joy.
Another way to use giving thanks to appreciate life more fully is to use gratitude to help you put things in their proper perspective. When things don’t go your way, remember that every difficulty carries within it the seeds of an equal or greater benefit. In the face of adversity ask yourself: “What’s good about this?”, “What can I learn from this?”, and “How can I benefit from this?”
There are Many Ways to Practice Gratitude
A common method to develop the practice of gratitude is to keep a gratitude journal, a concept that was made famous by Sarah Ban Breathnach’s book “Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude
Last year millions of people took the challenge proposed by Will Bowen, a Kansas City minister, to go 21 days without complaining, criticizing, or gossiping. To help condition the participants to stop complaining, they each wore a purple No-Complaint wristband. Several authors in the self-improvement genre have suggested that people do something similar to help condition themselves to be constantly aware of the things in life that they’re grateful for.
A variation of the wristband concept is to create a gratitude charm bracelet, with either one meaningful charm or different charms representing the things you’re most grateful for. For example, you could have a charm shaped like a heart to symbolize your significant other, figurines to represent different family members, an apple to represent health, a dollar sign to symbolize abundance, a charm that represents your current profession or a future career, and maybe a charm that makes you laugh to represent humor and joy.
Conclusion
Once you become oriented toward looking for things to be grateful for, you will find that you begin to appreciate simple pleasures and things that you previously took for granted. Gratitude should not be just a reaction to getting what you want, but an all-the-time gratitude, the kind where you notice the little things and where you constantly look for the good even in unpleasant situations. Today, start bringing gratitude to your experiences, instead of waiting for a positive experience in order to feel grateful; in this way, you’ll be on your way toward becoming a master of gratitude.
Images by Gisela Giardino and Hamed Saber.
The Blogging Blog
I am curious if you have heard about the new Law of Attraction movie The Gratitude Experiment, featuring many of the cast from The Secret. (Bob Proctor, John Demartini, Marie Diamond and others.) Considering gratitude is such an important part of the law of attraction, I thought this might be a movie of interest to you. Here is the Website: http://www.TheGratitudeexperiment.com
i must really say, i find your article interesting. it answers my question,” what is life without gratitude”. such a life is void,and full of worries. i hope to abide by the ” keeping a gratitude journal,” for it will reduces worrying about ones lack.
Hi Todd: Very true.
“Gratitude is the mother of all virtues.”
-Marcus Cicero
Marelisas last blog post..The Sound of Laughter
Hi Kannan,
Yes, saying thank you is not just good manners, its good spirituality.
Marelisas last blog post..The Sound of Laughter
Hi Marc and Angel: I see everyone likes gratitude quotes :-) Here’s one by Oprah:
“The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” – Oprah Winfrey
Marelisas last blog post..The Sound of Laughter
My pleasure Peter, thank you for posting my article on your beautiful blog. Before I go to sleep I write in my gratitude journal (ten things) and then I try to think of ten new things I learned during the day.
Marelisas last blog post..The Sound of Laughter
Hi Vered. I’m thinking of getting a charm bracelet to be my reminder that I should live in constant gratitude. This past Saturday I asked my three year old nephew what three things he was grateful for, and he loved the idea. After he reached three he just kept going! And then he wanted to know what I was grateful for (of course, one of the things I said was that I was grateful for him) :-)
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Hi Simon: I’m glad you enjoyed post. Proactive gratitude, I like that.
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Hunter: Do you keep having to change it from one wrist to the other and starting all over again? I can pretty much stop myself from complaining or criticizing outloud, what I need to work on is doing it in my head.
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Hi Bamboo: I agree that learning to focus and acknowledge all of the good in your life is an important goal. I’m glad you enjoyed the article!
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Many blessings to you as well C.G. :-)
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
@Amanda: Sometimes all you’ll be able to write down on your gratitude journal are things like having enough to eat and having a roof over your head, but you know, that’s already plenty! So I completely agree with you that even during bad times–perhaps especially during the bad times–we should focus on the good we have.
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Thank you Mike. I completely agree: the more that you focus on the good, the more good will come into your life.
Marelisas last blog post..How Gratitude Can Change Your Life
Yup, I keep switching it to the other wrist. Sometimes I’m about to complain and I catch myself in time, but sometimes it slips out before I notice.
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