The Real Benefits of Gratitude
The Real Benefits of Gratitude
Feeling gratitude seems to open the heart and quiet the mind, so how could it not be good for you? Studies have been done showing that keeping a gratitude attitude benefits physical and mental health and improves our sociability. You have only to give sincere thanks once a week to reap the riches.
Benefits of Practicing Gratitude
Mental
- Increased positive emotions
- Being more alert, awake, and feeling alive
- Experiencing more pleasure or joy
- Being more optimistic, happier
Social
- Being more forgiving
- Increased generosity, compassion, and helpfulness
- Feeling more connected, less lonely or alone
- Being more outgoing, demonstrative, or animated
Physical
- Lower blood pressure
- Healthier immune system
- Fewer aches and pains
- Better sleep or sleeping longer, feelings refreshed in the a.m.
- Tendency to eat healthier and exercise more
What is Gratitude?
Robert Emmons, author of Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, says gratitude is two things. One, it affirms goodness. It’s an acknowledgement that the world holds gifts and benefits, and we have received some of them.
Second, gratitude is realizing “the sources of this goodness as being outside ourselves. It didn’t stem from anything we necessarily did ourselves in which we might take pride.” It indicates our dependence on others, and for some people on a higher power, for the goodness we receive.
Others view gratitude more as a state of being, a thankful openness. It means receiving from nature, one another, and from a higher power with feelings of humility, and worthiness. It opens us to the connectedness of all life, bringing health to body, mind, and emotions.
Showing gratitude, even when you don’t feel it, can inspire the emotions associated with thankfulness, and will facilitate good relationships. We can fake it until we feel it. That benefits everyone involved.
