We hear the word gratitude so much. You may have heard "Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness" or "Gratitude turns what we have into enough".
Have you ever wondered why gratitude is so important? And how do you practice gratitude and even go to the next level of making it part of your daily practice?
Let's first explore what gratitude really means?
Gratitude is a strong appreciation for someone or something for what another person has done to help you. To show gratitude, you can say, "It was really kind of you to…," "It really helped me out when you…,"You did me a big favour when…," "Thank you for listening when…," "I really appreciated it when you taught me…," or "Thank you for being there when…." You also can write your gratitude in a letter. Express gratitude by doing kindness.
Gratitude does involve being thankful. However, it is more than that. So, let's take it deeper and compare gratitude and thankfulness.
Firstly, gratitude is a chosen state of being. It is an attitude of appreciation under any circumstance. You hold a grateful disposition by looking through the filter of thankfulness and being appreciative of daily events, even when nothing exciting happens. What it does is help you see and celebrate the good around us.
Thankfulness is an emotion, and it is a temporary feeling of gratitude that you may feel after receiving a gift, or support from someone.
So, what are the benefits of holding an attitude of gratitude? Research shows us that gratitude changes you and your brain.
So, firstly, gratitude can help relieve stress’ psychological and physiological effects. When we give thanks or express gratitude, we increase the neurotransmitter dopamine – our brain's "feel good” chemical. Dopamine increases our energy, turns on our brain's learning centres, and makes us feel more motivated and content.
Activating this state of gratitude, the brain chemicals in our brain make us feel happy. It also helps us in other ways, and we experience:
- Decrease in negative emotions
- Improved outlook,
- More inner strength
- Better sleep
- Better heart health
- Higher self-esteem
We can bring a gratitude practice into our daily lives very simply. It is about pausing and noticing, and appreciating.
In most cases, we take for granted food, clean water, a home to live in, and internet access.
You can write a google review of a service or product you have received, or write in a gratitude journal daily. Another one is writing a gratitude note each day and placing it in a jar.
There has been a lot of research undertaken to understand if gratitude helps well-being.
A research paper I came across, completed controlled research to determine if gratitude writing improves the mental health of psychotherapy clients in 4 weeks. The participants who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly better mental health than those expressing their thoughts.
The findings were:
- Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions
- Gratitude helps our mental health, even if you don't share the writing.
- Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain – In the research, an fMRI scanner was used to measure the brain activity while completing a ""pay it forward"" task. The fMRI showed greater neural sensitivity in the medial prefrontal cortex, a brain area associated with learning and decision-making, and this could contribute to improved mental health over time.
We know that much of our time and energy is spent pursuing things we need and want to have. However, the research shows that writing a gratitude letter helps your mental health. Gratitude reverses your priorities to help you appreciate the people and things you do.
Whether you're facing serious psychological challenges or have never written a gratitude letter before, we at Exhale Yoga encourage you to try it.
Freshen up your gratitude practice and become part of Exhale's Mindful Habits program and think of ways you can bring gratitude into your daily living.
Being excited about the benefits of gratitude can be a great thing because it gives you the kick you need to start making changes.
Here is an easy one gratitude practice you can get started. Click on the link below and provide Exhale Yoga with your thankfulness comments about the Exhale yoga class you recently attended.
With gratitude for taking the time to read this article - Rosie.
