A day to be grateful

From religion to science to our life experiences, here’s proof of gratitude’s blessings.

Setting aside a day to “give thanks” for the good things in our lives seems quaint in this modern age. It fit better in a time when the trip to grandmother’s house was “over the river and through the woods” not “over the internet or through the TSA security lines.”

And isn’t there a better use of a timeout from our overbooked, overburdened schedules than counting our blessings?

Actually, no.

Centuries of human wisdom and now decades of scientific study confirm that being grateful is good for us, those around us and society as a whole. Deciding to take some time to regularly recall all the things you have to be thankful for could mean as much to your mental, spiritual and even physical health than the other resolutions you’ll be making for the coming year. And let’s face it: It may be easier to achieve than the annual overhaul of your diet and exercise regimens.

Just as our mothers taught us — “Now, what do we say?” — being grateful is the right thing to do.

Gratitude has always been a pillar of the world’s major religions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam.

Almost all of the Psalms of the Hebrew Bible focus on the expression of gratitude toward God for all that he has done, is doing and will do.

The Apostle Paul tells believers, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

Buddha said the two people most difficult to find in this world are one who does a kindness and one who is grateful for that kindness. The world is out of kilter without both.

The teachings of Islam say, “The first who will be summoned to paradise are those who have praised God in every circumstance.”

From the secular perspective, Adam Smith, best known for his economic treatise “The Wealth of Nations,” called gratitude a crucial source of social civility and stability. Smith believed that the market should be driven by self-interest, but that “the duties of gratitude are perhaps the most sacred” in sustaining a virtuous society.

Science weighed in during the 1950s when Hans Selye, an endocrinologist, made the case that stress in our lives could have a direct effect on our physical health.

Selye, who ended up with the unfortunate label “the father of stress,” accidentally discovered that disease didn’t kill his lab rats, but stress did, opening up a whole new line of medical study that continues to this day. Selye later determined that the best antidote to stress is “an attitude of gratitude,” a balm against the “wear and tear” of daily life.

Sonja Lyubomirsky, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, has since weighed in with eight ways in which gratitude boosts happiness, from the way grateful thinking promotes the appreciation of positive life experiences to how expressing gratitude encourages moral behavior to the way the practice of gratitude diminishes emotions like anger, bitterness or greed.

The proof from the learned and the faithful of gratitude’s blessings are everywhere. But we were delighted to learn that they are richly evident in the lives of scores of our readers. We asked readers to share with us, and with all of you, examples in their lives this past year that have left them feeling grateful. Houstonians often say our city has been defined by ambition, but we could tell another story. Reader Gina Etherton writes that the people of Houston have provided us all “with a wider view of humanity, through its diversity, and a deeper view of hope, through the passion and care during major weather trauma, personal challenges and community growth.”

It’s clear that, yes, taking some time to count the blessings in our lives is well worth it. Not just once a year but continuously throughout the year. And not only when you “feel” a sense of gratitude, but when you think you don’t.

As the author Charles Dickens suggested, “Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”