Gratitude
and Mental Wellness
By Rich Bayer, Ph.D.
Can gratitude improve the way we feel? Here’s an
experiment you can try. Take a moment right now to be grateful for what
you have. Think of everything you have or think of something specific such
as your family, your house, enough food for today, or simply being alive.
After taking this moment, how do you feel? If
you’re like most people, you’re feeling a little more peaceful.
The dictionary defines gratitude as a feeling of
thankfulness and appreciation. We’re grateful when we’re conscious of
a benefit received. It implies a sense of wonder and appreciation for the
world around us, and is usually directed to someone or something else.
Gratitude is the focus of our Thanksgiving holiday.
It also plays a strong role during the Christmas season if we can stop the
hustle and bustle long enough to be thankful for each gift we have
received.
In addition, we often express gratitude simply by
being courteous. From an early age, most of us are taught to say, “thank
you” whenever someone does something nice for us.
Research on Gratitude
Recent psychological research shows that gratitude
plays an important role in our happiness, our healthy adjustment to life,
and even in our physical well-being. Dr. Robert Emmons and Dr. Michael
McCollough describe some of these studies in their recently published
book, The Psychology of Gratitude.
First the authors note the difficulty in actually
defining gratitude. It can be an emotion, an attitude, a moral value, a
habit, a personality trait, or a coping response. Their research focused
on gratitude as an emotion.
Curiously enough however, Emmons and McCollough note
that, before we can feel gratitude as an emotion, we have to be able to
think about it. They identified three main components that we think about
when we feel gratitude: 1) recognition that we have obtained a positive
benefit, 2) that the benefit has come from an outside source (usually
another person), and 3) the benefit was not necessarily earned or
deserved.
In scientific experiments, individuals were asked to
keep track of their experiences of gratitude. While participating in these
experiments, the individuals noticed some positive changes. They reported
more optimism, fewer physical symptoms, better sleep, more progress on
their own personal goals, higher levels of positive states such as
alertness, enthusiasm, and determination, fewer negative states (such as
bitterness, sadness, and fear), and were more likely to report having
helped someone else.
Perhaps more interesting, Emmons and McCollough found
that this experiment actually boosted gratitude in those who participated.
In other words, when individuals are asked to keep track of their
experiences of gratitude, they actually experience more gratitude as well
as the positive changes associated with it.
These researchers also studied people who were
considered to have a grateful disposition and found that they were more
positive, were more empathic of others, tended to be more spiritual, were
more likely to attend religious services, and were less focused on
material possessions.
Counting Your Blessings
So what does this mean? It means that there is some
truth to the old adage about counting one's blessings. People who count
their blessings are happier and healthier. By spending more time being
grateful, we become a better friend and better community member. We also
become more appreciated by our friends. By increasing our gratefulness
toward others, we can help to strengthen our families and communities.
What is equally powerful, Emmons and McCollough
showed, is that gratitude can be taught and learned, practiced and
applied. Gratitude implies that we recognize the help we get from others.
No matter how much we do for ourselves, we can remain aware and
acknowledge whenever someone else has helped us.
One way to improve our sense of gratitude is to
simply be aware of it. We can use this approach to teach our children
about gratitude as well. Children will learn when parents pay attention to
situations in which they have benefited from the help of others. It’s
pretty simple. When parents model gratitude, children learn.
Dr. Emmons emphasizes that gratitude is a choice that
we make. How readily we express gratitude is based on our personal habits
and our attitude toward life. By being more attentive to opportunities to
express gratitude we increase the opportunity to feel it, and obtain the
benefits of that experience.
Saying "thank you" not only improves the
day for the person you thank, it improves your day too. Thank you for
allowing me to share this column with you.
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Rich Bayer,
Ph.D., is the CEO of Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc. and a
practicing psychologist.
For More Information Contact:
Upper Bay Counseling and Support Services, Inc.
200 Booth Street, Elkton, MD 21921
Tel: 410-996-5104
Toll Free: 877-587-7750
FAX: 410-996-5197
Internet: info@upperbay.org
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