Why a Gratitude Practice Improves Your Health
How are you doing? I hope happy or at least content. I hope you don’t feel stuck in a rut, stressed out, or just generally unhappy? If so, I recommend that you try practicing gratitude. Gratitude has been shown to have numerous benefits for happiness and well-being. My all-time favorite TED talk is from Shawn Achor. It is absolutely hilarious and informative on what makes us feel happy. He ends with a clear gratitude practice. I’ll outline that later. Let’s read a little more about why a gratitude practice is essential.
A gratitude practice can increase happiness and life satisfaction levels because practicing it leads to more positive emotions, including joy, enthusiasm, love, and admiration. Additionally, gratitude lowers levels of stress and depression.
Gratitude enhances our cognitive abilities. People who practice gratitude have better memory recall and improved decision-making skills. It also leads to greater creativity and improved self-esteem.
This uplifting practice improves our physical health. Studies have shown that grateful people have lower blood pressure and reduced risk for heart disease. Grateful people also report fewer aches and pains, get sick less often, and recover from illness faster than those who do not practice gratitude.
Gratitude helps strengthen relationships. When we express gratitude to others, they are more likely to reciprocate. Gratitude is also attractive to others and builds trust.
So I hope that you have a buy-in now.
Here is the 21-day practice that Shawn Achor talks about in his 2012 TEXxBloomington:
Three Gratitudes: Pause to take note of three new things each day that you are grateful for. Doing so will help your brain start to retrain its pattern of scanning the world, looking not just for the negative inputs but for the positive ones.
Journaling: Similar to the gratitude practice, but in this case, detail — in writing — one positive experience each day. This will help you find meaning in the activities of the day, rather than just noticing the task itself.
Exercise: Exercising for 10 minutes a day not only brings physical benefits, but it also teaches your brain to believe your behavior matters, which then carries (positively) into other activities throughout the day.
Meditation: Take just two minutes per day to simply breathe and focus on your breath going in and out. Doing so will train your mind to focus, reduce stress, and help you be more present in this moment.
Random Acts of Kindness: This can be something simple, and Shawn suggests writing one positive email to praise or thank someone each day. Not only does it benefit the recipient, but it also increases your feeling of social support.
The practice of gratitude is considered an essential spiritual practice. If you feel bogged down with challenges or overwhelmed with life, this practice can help clear a path so that you can see your way out of the intrusive thoughts that have sabotaged the real you!
REFERENCES
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7407385/
https://www.shawnellis.com/21-day-happiness-challenge/
