Remember when we were young our grown-ups would nag at us to say thank you?
We would sometimes sigh and mumble it quietly under our breath and then feel a poke in the ribs and a whisper in our ear, “say it properly!”. However, we would say it louder, in a sarcastic manner and with stern eye contact.
Well, it turns out that saying thank you and sincerely holding meaning to it has the power to help us live a long, healthy and happy life.
Who knew?
Science has shown that feeling grateful will make us happier and healthier. Think about it, when we are happy we are far more likely to feel higher energy and complete tasks more efficiently.
However, when we allow negative emotions to invade our minds and control us, we procrastinate and feel tired, sluggish, and somewhat unfulfilled.
It sucks!
I know, I know… it’s not easy to do and the last thing we want is Karen telling us to be grateful because all we have done is moan about our delayed delivery from Amazon, that lunatic that lives across the road and to top it off, the weather is diabolical!
All Karen had to say is “you should be more grateful”. We can feel the rage starting from our toes and rising, rapidly. All we want to do is slap Karen around the face and stick her gratitude where the sun doesn’t shine (apologies to Karen, I plucked a name out of thin air, no hard feelings). As much as we don’t like to admit it at the time, Karen has a point (well done, Karen).
What do the studies show?
Studies have shown that practising gratitude can lead to deeper connected relationships, better sleep quality, improved immunity, and overall mental well-being, the list goes on. It sounds simple to incorporate into our daily lives. Although, when things aren’t working in our favour, it can be hard to find something we are grateful for.
An article in the Huffington Post includes a ten-week study by Robert A. Emmons, PhD, at the University of California at Davis, along with his colleague Mike McCullough, at the University of Miami. The study links practising gratitude to happiness levels.
In the study, all participants were asked to keep a short journal and were assigned randomly to one of three groups:
Group one was asked to journal five things they were grateful for that had occurred in the past week.
Group two had five daily hassles that displeased them from the same period.
A neutral group was asked to list five things that affected them – they were not asked to focus on these being either positive or negative.
The study showed that participants in group one reported feeling better about their lives as a whole and it was recorded that they were 25% happier than group two.
That is powerful stuff!
There have been other studies that have shown the physical benefits gratitude has on our health too. Gratitude is an easy practice to introduce daily but just like our previous blog post on consistency, it is also easy not to do.
By making gratitude a habit and a daily practice we are set up for those days when things are difficult. Some days we don’t want to get out of bed, our car broke down or we are late home because our boss called a last-minute meeting on a Friday (who does that?). Our thought process will already be in the habit to try and find something we are still grateful for because it has been ingrained into us from our daily practices.
How can we start practising gratitude every day? Let me tell you 3 ways we can start practising right NOW!
1. Write down 5 things you are grateful for
Find a notebook and make that your gratitude journal. Leave it by your bedside table, coffee table, or somewhere you can easily find it. Write down a list of five things that make you feel good and mean a lot to you.
Top tip: make it different every day.
Find something you’re grateful for, for example; your environment, someone you love, your career, and your health. Sometimes it can be hard to find something different every day in these areas, it isn’t always obvious to us but this will retrain our brains to find a new perspective.
However, simply stating we are grateful isn’t powerful enough. Saying we are grateful for the same things each day or being too generic isn’t meaningful enough. The most powerful way to practice gratitude is to feel it. We want to truly feel gratitude, get specific, what makes you feel grateful?
2. Don’t just write it, FEEL IT!
When you are writing, it is important to bring yourself into the moment and feel what you are writing, otherwise, it is just words on paper. They have no meaning. Gratitude is a feeling we practice, which is why we need to choose something that we feel genuine gratitude towards. We then embody that feeling which improves our mood and overall health.
3. Tell someone you are grateful for them
This is a great practice. Who doesn’t love being told that someone appreciates them and is thankful? Telling someone you are grateful for them and the reason why will make you feel good as well as the other person. It’s a win-win!
Who are you grateful for today? Go tell them!
Summary
We have discovered that gratitude is like a magic pill. All we have to do is practice every day and we can reap the mental and physical health benefits.
These steps are easy ways we can introduce gratitude into our daily lives. Staying consistent over time will make this practice a habit. When things are going well it is easy for us to skip our gratitude practice. Let me stop you there! This is when we need to be laying the groundwork. That way, when those bad days arrive (which they will) we have laid the foundations. This doesn’t mean it won’t be difficult but our brain has already created neural pathways to see through another perspective and find gratitude.
You do the work and the brain will do the rest!
Think about it, our thought patterns and beliefs have got us to where we are today. These are all habits we have created over time. It is going to take time for us to rewire our brains and develop new habits. This takes discipline but it is possible and never too late. Start by applying gratitude practices to your daily life and watch the world around you change.
If you would like to get started with your gratitude list but still feel lost, click the link below. We have attached a gratitude journal that guides you through your gratitude practice.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Start-Gratitude-Journal-Positivity-Happier/dp/1726280594
It seems only right to finish this article by expressing our gratitude and thank you for reading this article and for being here.
Till next time…
Seek and Discover
Great Post! Thank you. Always good to get a little reminder that gratitude can benefit you as much, if not more than the person you are showing it to. Plus it helps you to cope better in the difficult times too.
Ah thank you, that means a lot. Gratitude is an incredible tool that we can all implement into our daily lives and it is free. Your comment made my evening.
Jazz x
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