There’s still much to be thankful for
IT was about 13 years ago when our eldest daughter came home from kinder with a note. The kinder wanted us, when sitting down together for dinner each night, to each express gratitude for two things about our day.
At the time, I thought it was a sweet idea. I didn’t place any value on it. As a family, we enjoyed it as it gave us an opportunity to talk about each other’s day.
Often our kinder-aged child would talk about how she was happy she got to play dress-ups or was thankful both her best friends had been at kinder that day.
Since then, we have had two other children attend that kinder and participate in the nightly dinner exercise. The habit formed and stuck.
Some 13 years later, when eating dinner together, we often still participate in the activity.
It is not a formal expression of gratitude, but usually starts like this, “The two best things in my day were …”
A couple of weeks ago, an article came up on my feed. It was an article about practising gratitude. It was written by Harvard Health Publishing and entitled “Giving thanks can make you happier”.
It was written in advance of this year’s Thanksgiving season in the United States.
As one would expect from a Harvard Medical School article, it was well researched. The summary was that “gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness”.
“Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity and build strong relationships.”
They define gratitude as “a thankful appreciation for what an individual receives whether tangible or intangible”.
The article goes on to explain the science of gratitude, which is that if you train yourself through practising gratitude to cherish that which is good in your life and connect it to something external to yourself, you will train your brain to think positively about what you have, rather than focus on what you lack.
I am neither a psychologist nor a wellness guru, but the habit of practising gratitude that was set a long time ago through kinder homework has been a good habit during Covid. Seemingly, it has also been helpful to others as practising gratitude had some prominence last week in the
R U OK? literature and was showcased, in that week, on many people’s social platforms.
Practising gratitude, according to the Harvard article, can be done in many ways and about things big and small.
It talks about being reflective about your week and the things you are grateful for in that past week.
When I think about my last week, I am grateful to live in Geelong. As a community, I am proud of how hard we are working to follow the rules and to get vaccinated. We are also working really hard at supporting local business. Finally, I am grateful that we have a strong sense of community and care about each other. We are checking in with friends and family.
I am also grateful for technology. I know we are all on our screens too much and there is constant worry about the content we are all digesting and its impact on our sense of self and mental health. That said, our children would have been much more isolated from friends, school and sport during Covid but for the ability to FaceTime, to Snapchat and to engage in group exercise over video with teammates.
Without technology, I would not have been able to see my mum or dad’s faces for months at a time, as they live in Melbourne. For this and the connection with friends and family that technology has provided, I am grateful.
Finally, in this last week, I am grateful for our family dog Alfie. He is naughty and silly and checks in on everyone, every day.
He makes me take him for a walk and is unapologetically living his best life in lockdown. He is everyone’s favourite family member and with good reason.
If the Harvard Medical School research and our kinder homework is to be believed, practising gratitude can make you happier. Given all the terrible consequences Covid has brought to our lives, if you are interested, give it a chance. It won’t cost you anything and we could all benefit from even a small increase in happiness at the moment.
IF YOU TRAIN YOURSELF THROUGH PRACTISING GRATITUDE TO CHERISH THAT WHICH IS GOOD IN YOUR LIFE AND CONNECT IT TO SOMETHING EXTERNAL TO YOURSELF, YOU WILL TRAIN YOUR BRAIN TO THINK POSITIVELY ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE, RATHER THAN FOCUS ON WHAT YOU LACK.