Research supports that feelings of gratitude can help with our overall well-being.
For example, feeling grateful can help with improved social functioning, better sleep, relationship satisfaction, and a protective factor in preventing psychological distress (Young & Hutchinson, 2012). Both popular culture and religious practices have supported the benefits of feeling grateful. In the last 20 years research has supported the importance of gratitude and mental health. For example, research has shown gratitude can help improve positive affect, improve sleep, and feel happier. Therefore, it is important to know what you can do to increase your feelings of gratitude so you can feel better.
1. Choose what you think about before you go to bed:
Research has supported that those who focused on the good events during the day before going to bed reported better sleep duration and sleep quality versus those who focused on negative thoughts (i.e., bad things happening in the world). Therefore, be mindful and intentional of your thoughts before you go to bed. What happened in your day that you are grateful for? Even if you had a terrible day, are you grateful for how you handled it? Are you grateful that it is over and you are in the comforts of your home?
2. Write a letter to someone you have not formally thanked:
A study conducted by Seligman and colleagues in 2005 found that those who used this exercise showed the highest improvement in feelings of happiness and decreased depression. Therefore, write a letter to someone that you feel gratitude for but have never formally thanked, and deliver the letter to them. Think back to people in your life who have impacted you positively and changed you. This could be a teacher or a person who said a kind word to you when you needed it the most.
3. Be Creative: Focus on 5 things every day you are grateful for:
Choose to write 5 things you are grateful for every day in your journal or one that is specifically tailored as a gratitude journal. Gratitude exercises should elicit the feeling of gratitude and not become a rote exercise with a lack of feelings, so be creative. Think about how grateful you are to spend $5.00 on a Starbucks latte, how grateful you are for the smile or compliment someone gave you today, or even how grateful you are for being a citizen of your country and all the benefits of your citizenship. Other prompts such as “What have I received from people today” can generate feelings of gratitude.
4. Apps for your phone:
There are many apps you can use on your smartphone such as the gratitude journal, the gratitude diary, and others http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-awesome-ios-apps-starting-keeping-gratitude-journal.
Each can help provide ideas to expand your awareness and to make it convenient, as most of us always have our phones with us!
In sum, it is important to make focusing on gratitude a habit. The more focus and dedication you have towards gratitude exercises, the more you will benefit. Research supports that the more you focus on what you appreciate, the better you will feel, the better you will sleep, and the more connected you may feel to others. Additionally, as your positive emotions expand, you can attract more abundance into your life, as what you focus on, expands.
Source Article/Publication: Mark Young, Ph.D. & Tracy Hutchinson, Ph.D.: The Rediscovery of Gratitude: Implications for Counseling Practice. Journal of Humanistic Counseling, Volume 51, April 2012.
