Practicing Gratitude

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift" ~ John Ortberg

Gratitude is defined by the APA (n.d.) as, "a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift". It has also been defined as the act of recognizing and acknowledging the good things that happen, resulting in a state of appreciation (Sansone & Sansone, 2010).

Dr. Robert Emmons, psychology professor and gratitude researcher at the University of California, states that there are two key components of practicing gratitude:

1.) We affirm the good things we’ve received
2.) We acknowledge the role other people play in providing our lives with goodness

In this sense, gratitude is "a relationship-strengthening emotion, because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people” (Emmons, 2000).

Because gratitude encourages us not only to appreciate gifts but to repay them (or pay them forward), the sociologist Georg Simmel called it “the moral memory of mankind.”

Practicing gratitude has a wide range of beneficial effects, from improving our mental health, boosting our relationships with others, strengthening our immune system, improving sleep, increasing levels of social, psychological and emotional wellbeing (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000; Jans-Beken et al., 2020; Wood et al., 2010) and improving our physical health (Krause et al., 2015).

In fact, Dr. Robert Emmons' research involved participants who were asked to write 3 gratitudes 3x/week for 6 weeks. He found that participants reported greater optimism and well-being, improved relationships with their partners, were exercising more, and had fewer physical complaints. These findings have been reproduced in many research studies, and more recently published in the book, The Gratitude Project.

Some ways to practice gratitude include: keeping a gratitude journal, expressing gratitude to another by saying 'thank you' or writing a gratitude letter, arranging a gratitude visit, or practicing a gratitude meditation. This 5-minute guided gratitude meditation by The Mindful Movement is one of my favourites

How do you practice gratitude?

~Kate