Gratitude is a strong feeling that can significantly affect our lives. When we develop a gratitude practice, we start turning our attention from what we don’t have to everything we do.
It enables us to enjoy life’s little things and find meaning and purpose in even the most trying circumstances. Stronger relationships, better mental and physical health, and greater resilience in the face of hardship have all been associated with gratitude.
Regularly expressing gratitude can help us and others around us live happier, more satisfying lives.
“Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” – Amy Collette
Why is gratitude important And How To we Practice It?
Makes you happier and Increases your positive emotions
It is scientifically proven that simply journaling for a few minutes daily regarding the positives you have gathered and what you are grateful for can extend your long-term happiness by about 10%.
How can 5 minutes a day be helpful?
Gratitude reduces all negativity and helps you build a positive attitude. You can sleep better(Increase time and Quality), and make you more healthy and happier.
Noticing what you already have in your life and being grateful for those things can help you gain more positivity. Research has proven that gratitude reduces envious thoughts, increases positive emotions, and makes you more adaptable to circumstances.
Related: Best Ways Gratitude Makes You Happier
Gratitude Boosts psychological well-being
A researcher named Chih-Che Lin observed, in the year 2017, that a strong level of gratitude toward life had an immense impact on psychological well-being, anxiety, depression, and self-esteem.
He essentially stated that to enjoy the benefits of gratitude, one must inculcate gratitude in his/her day-to-day life and truly live a life of gratitude. You can achieve this state by regularly showcasing gratitude and commitment.
Helps Enhances self-esteem
Research shows that people who had participated in a 4-week gratitude contemplation program in the year 2011 reported greater satisfaction towards life and self-esteem, after the completion of the program, in comparison to the people who used control measures to curb lack of self-esteem.
Gratitude can make you feel better about the circumstances, which in turn can make you feel better about yourself.
Prohibits suicidal thoughts and attempts from arising
The Amygdala is kept under regulation by practicing gratitude. The amygdala is the brain’s emotional center, responsible for stress and anxiety, leading to suicidal thoughts and even attempts when not regulated properly.
A showcase of gratitude when combined with meditation, helps to shrink the amygdala. A study showed that gratitude is the protective factor in suicidal ideation and helps to generate control over yourself when you are at your weakest.
10 Benefits of Gratitude
- 1 Enhanced Mental Health: Practicing gratitude can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, leading to improved mental well-being.
- 2 Increased Happiness: Grateful individuals often experience greater levels of happiness and overall life satisfaction.
- 3 Strengthened Relationships: Expressing gratitude fosters positive interactions and nurtures healthier, more fulfilling relationships.
- 4 Reduced Stress: Gratitude helps lower stress levels by redirecting focus away from negative thoughts and emotions.
- 5 Improved Resilience: Gratitude can boost resilience, making it easier to cope with life’s challenges and bounce back from setbacks.
- 6 Better Sleep: Gratitude practices can lead to improved sleep quality and duration by reducing nighttime rumination on negative thoughts.
- 7 Physical Health Benefits: Gratitude is linked to enhanced immune function, lower blood pressure, and a reduced risk of certain chronic diseases.
- 8 Enhanced Self-Esteem: Recognizing and appreciating the positive aspects of life can boost self-esteem and self-worth.
- 9 Greater Generosity: Grateful people are more inclined to engage in acts of kindness and generosity, contributing to a more positive and compassionate society.
- 10 Increased Optimism: Gratitude cultivates a positive outlook on life, enabling individuals to focus on opportunities and possibilities rather than dwelling on limitations and obstacles.
Benefits of Thankfulness: Proved by Science
Helps in improving your relationships
Be it the relationship with your partner or any other relationship in general; gratitude helps to improve the quality of relationships.
A recent study showed evidence that expressing gratitude to your loved ones is a perfect way to strengthen the bonds between you and make the relationship last longer.
Showcasing gratitude to your loved ones or anyone, in general, is a great way to make them feel better, make yourself feel better, and, as a whole, make the relationship better.
Strengthens family relationships and improves the bond with friends
As already mentioned, gratitude effectively sorts out various problems amongst your loved ones and strengthens your bonds.
Gratitude has been found to protect the children of sick parents from depression, stress, and anxiety. Children and adults who can find the positives in life easily deal with family depression.
Those who show gratitude towards their friends are more likely to understand each other better and sort out problems better between themselves.
Increase Social Support and also Makes People Like You
The practice of being grateful shows everyone around you how trustworthy, social, and appreciative you are.
This, in turn, increases your social acceptance. You tend to have a larger friend circle and better relationships with everyone.
Those who are more grateful to others get more social support in times of need. Studies have shown that gratitude lessens stress and anxiety in the first place, as a result, the need to have social support also decreases considerably.
Related: Gratitude Good For Health
Makes you more optimistic and less self-centered
The more you showcase your gratitude towards others, the more positive they feel, and the more positive you feel about yourself.
Gratitude journaling daily, for about 5 minutes, is seen to be very beneficial in enhancing optimism by about 5-15%.
Another benefit of gratitude is a reduction in self-centeredness. Promoting gratitude within oneself helps to share more with others, even at the expense of themselves.
Reduces materialism and increases spiritualism
It is not a matter of surprise that more grateful people tend to be less materialistic. They appreciate what they have rather than being obsessed with obtaining more materialistic goods.
Research has shown that people who are less preoccupied with having more are usually better satisfied with their lives.
Gratitude also helps you regain your spiritual odor if you feel too “worldly” or have lost your spirituality. Spiritualism and gratitude go hand-in-hand.
Spiritual Benefits of Gratitude
- 1 Feeling Connected: Gratitude helps you feel more connected to something bigger than yourself, like a higher power or the world around you.
- 2 Being Present: Gratitude encourages you to pay attention to the moment you’re in, which can make you more spiritually aware.
- 3 Being Humble: Gratitude can make you less focused on yourself and more aware of how you depend on others, which is a way to be spiritually humble.
- 4 Being Kind: When you’re grateful, you’re more likely to be kind and caring to others because you realize the good things in your life.
- 5 Feeling Calm Inside: Gratitude can help you find peace inside yourself, making it easier to let go of stress and negative feelings.
- 6 Living Your Values: Gratitude can help you live according to your most important beliefs and values, making your life feel more meaningful.
- 7 Having Stronger Faith: Being grateful can strengthen your faith in a higher power or in something greater than yourself.
- 8 Growing Spiritually: Regularly being thankful can help you grow and develop on your spiritual journey.
Benefits of Gratefulness: Help to Build Successful Career:
Gratitude helps to increase your productivity, increase decision-making power, and make you more self-confident.
Make you More Effective Manager and improves decision making
Research conducted on gratitude showed that practicing gratitude regularly boosts your managerial abilities and motivational and praise-giving abilities as a guide or a mentor.
You are better suited to managing employees under you and even guiding them to work better.
You are also likely to be less impatient while making important decisions regarding your workplace or even other matters.
Gratitude improves your decision-making skills by making you calmer, composed, and less impatient.
Helps you to find meaning in your work
It is often noticed that people who can find the objective behind their work are usually more successful than those merely working to earn their livelihood.
It gradually becomes a daunting task for them. Gratitude is a very important factor in helping you find meaning in your work and make you more fulfilled throughout your career.
You can better execute your plans and apply your strengths, flow, positive emotions, and hope in your workplace.
This leads to the betterment of work-related mental health
Availing gratefulness at your workplace can have a massive impact on the mental health of the other staff.
Suppose you are grateful to the peon for bringing you coffee, even though he is not happy with his work, your showcase of gratitude towards him can make his day.
A study conducted on a hospital’s staff showed that participants randomly assigned to a gratefulness group experienced fewer or no depressive symptoms and stress than those who weren’t assigned.
Beneficial in terms of reduced turnover
Research has proved that showcase of gratitude to the employees in the workplace can make them feel more valued and welcomed in the organization. It makes them feel more implanted in the company.
This practice of showing them gratitude is especially important in the early stages of their careers when they are still finding their way and receive very little or no reverence from the senior members of their more experienced peers.
Benefits Of Gratitude For Physical Health In Daily Life
Instrumental in reducing depressive symptoms
People who practiced gratitude journaling in a study said that they too, experienced a similar outcome in a decrease of their depressive symptoms for as long as they continued their journaling.
These reports suggest that gratitude journaling can effectively treat depression or stress-related issues.
Reduces blood pressure and improves the sleeping schedule
Patients suffering from hypertension and significantly higher blood pressure values were seen to experience a massive decrease in blood pressure when they practiced gratefulness for 8 weeks straight.
This resulted in an overall healthy lifestyle. Want a healthier life? Start being grateful to live!
A study also revealed that quick gratitude journaling before going to bed was the difference between feeling great and groggy the following morning. Gratefulness lowers blood pressure and ensures better sleep.
Increases frequency of exercise
Being grateful to everything and everyone around you can give you that zeal to exercise. A study showed that participants who practiced the showcase of gratitude daily for 11 weeks were likelier to exercise and stay fit than those who didn’t.
As a result, the more grateful you are, the more fit you will be and lead a healthy physical and psychological life.
Related: Best Way Gratitude Change Your Life
Important Of Gratitude In Recovery:
Essential in the recovery from depression and substance misuse
Research and several other addiction programs have shown that gratitude plays a key role in recovering people from substance misuse or abuse.
Gratitude helps to develop strength and other attributes necessary to say goodbye to these addictions and move towards a healthier life.
There is plenty of evidence from Buddhist teachings which proves that gratefulness is instrumental in recovery from depression-aided illness, loneliness, and anxiety, even PTSD in many cases. Gratefulness is the key to a better lifestyle.
Instrumental in the recovery of patients suffering from coronary diseases
A study conducted at Harvard University and the Massachusetts General Hospital showed that patients suffering from acute coronary complications experienced greater improvements in their quality of health and even were able to deal with depression well.
The patients found that when they approached their recovery with gratitude and optimism, there was a significant decrease in their depression and anxiety levels.
Thus, Gratitude can even aid from critical life conditions besides other physical and psychological ailments.
The effects of gratitude grow over time.
A study was conducted in which a group of people was made to write letters to some other person for three weeks.
This study reported that the participants writing the letters for three weeks straight had significantly better mental health when the writing exercise ended. This lasted in them for over three months.
Conclusion
To conclude the above-stated points, it is very clear to everyone that the effects of gratitude are everlasting and immense.
Gratitude is instrumental in helping you deal with depression and anxiety and making you less puzzled while making important decisions.
Gratitude even helps heal coronary diseases, and its effects never seem to stop.
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“Mindfulness, meditation, and positivity – these three words describe me the best. I founded “BeHappyHuman” blog dedicated to spreading happiness and inner peace through mindfulness and meditation techniques. As a self-taught practitioner, I have been exploring these practices for the past decade and my passion lies in sharing their benefits with others. My mission is to help individuals achieve greater happiness.