How To Reap The Benefits Of An Attitude Of Gratitude
New research suggests that gratitude is an attitude that’s not just good for you, but also your relationships and work performance. The benefits of an attitude of gratitude include feeling lighter and more optimistic, making better decisions in personal life and at work, avoiding disagreements with others by focusing on the positives, taking less risks because you feel more secure in your life, and reducing stress. What’s not to love?
Gratitude can change how we see the world and make our lives better. Without it, we might be bored with daily life, mired in pessimism, and at each other’s throat.
Gratitude is found in your brain. That’s what a new study by San Francisco State University psychologist Michael Zeigler suggests. In his research on the benefits of gratitude, Zeigler reports that people who remember to be grateful have happier and more realistic outlooks on their future lives. Their mental states match up with this hopefulness.
So what exactly can you do to cultivate gratitude? It’s not hard, really — but it takes some forethought.
Sit down and make a list of things you’re grateful for each day. It helps to write them out, but you can also use a journal or a smartphone app. Make sure you don’t skip this practice on the days when your life is going well. And don’t forget to include things other people have done for you or provided for you — like your car, health insurance payments or other financial benefits that help make your life easier. You may be surprised at the items on your list that may come as a surprise to others, too.
Get your children involved, too. Explain to them that it helps them cope with life and makes them feel safer in the world. And consider thanking someone each day for making your life better. Gratitude is contagious and can spread through an office or a household like a virus.
Notice you’re feeling good about yourself and your life — then take action to make things even better. If you’ve received praise at work, take on new challenges, or if you’ve been treated well by a particular person, try to return the favor, even though it might be difficult. Make this the way you are living: always trying to make life better, because you feel grateful.
Futures of Gratitude
Over the next few months, it’s possible that things in your life will change for the better. If you’ve been struggling for any length of time, this is a good time to start looking at how to change your attitude about how things really are. Are you happy with your life? Do you have enough money and resources? Do you have support from friends and family? If not, what can be done to get these essentials? There’s no point in feeling grateful if your basic needs aren’t met.
This is the time to be proactive and take action on your problems. If you’ve been grappling with stress, anxiety or depression, focus on getting help. If you’ve been living in a bad environment, move to a place that nurtures your talents and makes you feel good about yourself. Don’t let this month pass without seeing a doctor or other health professional if you need one.
You may find that the answers to your problems are already within you. A change of attitude might allow you to see better opportunities in life and make up for what might appear as setbacks right now.
How To Reap The Benefits Of An Attitude Of Gratitude
By Stefan Fatsis
1. Gratitude is a matter of attitude, not action. It’s easy to turn gratitude into a goal: Make and list things you’re grateful for each day. Then make it a habit to do something nice for someone else every day, whether it’s by helping people out or doing favors for them. The individual never measures up. You measure up when you look around and flood your senses with thoughts of everything better: family, career, health, safety, friends and love.
2. Make it a family affair. Make being grateful part of your children’s emotional education from an early age.
3. Look for the good, not just in others but also in yourself. When you notice something about yourself to be grateful for, build on it and make it bigger and better. For instance: I’m smart and productive when I wake up early in the morning, so I will strive to wake up at 5 a.m. every day. If you’re overweight or out of shape, commit to working out regularly so that you can feel proud of who you are on the inside as well as outside.
4. Don’t just take care of your physical needs. Don’t forget to include your mental health as well. You can cultivate gratitude by focusing on the things that make you healthy, happy and whole — such as good health care, love and companionship, a safe shelter and a reliable job or business that keeps you in the black.
5. Gratitude is not to be confused with pessimism or self-pity. It can be contagious, but it shouldn’t spread to others or to yourself if it becomes personalized and negative like that of the person who complains about everything, takes criticism personally and derides others as unkind jerks.
6. You can be grateful for anything. Don’t run away from the negative, but know that it must not be the only thing in your life — or in others’ lives — that you focus on.
7. Let go of negative emotions, such as anger and jealousy, and cultivate feelings of gratitude instead. You can let go of these emotions when you realize their problems are too big to solve and they will only bring you pain and misery. You can cultivate gratitude instead by learning to accept what is and not wish it were otherwise.
8. You can be grateful to your humanity, because all of us are walking, talking miracles that serve as a common denominator in the universe. Humanity is something nice to have — and it’s a lot better than having nothing at all.
9. Write your own stories about how you’ve been blessed and how you want to change for the better in life.
Conclusion
Gratitude is a wonderful, beautiful word. It speaks volumes about what you see around you, in both the big and small picture. And when you start to realize how truly blessed your life is, you can stop worrying and start being grateful. Take the time to reflect on things, whether that’s writing a few things down or making a list in your head of everything in your life that makes it worth living. Or teach your kids to be grateful for everything that they have in their lives by setting an example for them of how much kindness you can give out to others. Whatever way you choose to be grateful this month, make sure it’s done with purpose and intent every day.