Gratitude will grow happiness
Happy Thanksgiving. I have discovered that being thankful is a balm to bad moods and salve to stress, even in the face of the most challenging circumstances.
Thanksgiving will change your life; being grateful will change your world.
With four children heading in every direction — school, university, and work — it is hard to get them all in one place at one time.
One of my favourite questions, when they crash through the door and collapse on the sofa, is this, “tell me three things you are thankful for today, even if they have had a bad or uneventful day.”
Yes, eyes roll, and passive resistance presents itself, but once they participate and talk, everything changes. It takes practise, but I know that it works; when I have a negative or stressful situation, I try to find three things to be thankful for, shifting my perspective to gratitude,
To reflect on your day and remember the positive is powerful. We, humans, are often wired to be negative, pessimistic. It has kept us alive for thousands of years, thinking the worst.
Research shows that taking time to live in a place of gratitude helps us grow resilience and positivity about our lives and problems. Gratitude is proven to increase happiness, improve relationships, elevate health, and enhance performance levels.
It is a strange thing that thankful thoughts are incompatible with negative thoughts. You cannot do the two at the same time. It is a way of fighting depression and anxiety and beating the negative views about yourself, the world, and the future.
Gratitude increases happiness. Couples who can express gratitude seem to be able to have better long-term relationships. Married life has its challenges; there is turbulence at times, but to focus on the positives of a relationship, areas you are deeply thankful for, certainly makes a happier relationship, one that is quick to forgive. Unsurprisingly, a 2010 study found that gratitude projected an increase of connection and satisfaction for couples in romantic relationships.
It gets better; our health is improved. We sleep better when we are thankful, we beat stress with quality sleep.
A study found that those who kept gratitude journals progressed in reaching their objectives and showed higher motivation, responsiveness, and determination.
Two things that may help, last thing at night, practice a blessing exercise and give thanks for three blessings from your day.
Secondly, compose a note to someone you are grateful to whom you may not have appropriately thanked. The Bible is rich with encouragement to always be thankful, encouraging us to, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
Thank you for reading, I’m grateful!