
Do you realize how gratitude can change
your life? How does gratitude promote well-being? I make it a practice to say
five things I am grateful for daily. I never could have imagined this simple habit
could change my life as it has, bringing positive results in every way. Today
I sat for a moment and took a walk backward in time, thinking about the beautiful
life changes that have taken place. When I allowed myself to be thankful for the
way things were - instead of "wishing" my life away on what I didn't
have, the doors opened up and great things started to manifest. Examples would
be a healthy relationship (marriage), finally quitting a job that was joyless
to working and living my passion, inspiring others to heal and live their passion
and the list goes on. Some facts about gratitude are: gratitude makes you happy.
Yes, a five minute a day gratitude journal can promote happiness and wellbeing
– improving your health, relationships, emotions, personality and career.
I mean, winning the lottery sounds great right? However, because of hedonic adaptation,
we quickly get used to the money and stop having as much fun with it as we once
did, hence going back to not feeling satisfied and happy. How about the fact that
gratitude generates social capital? According to an article written by Amit Amin
(The 31 Benefits of Gratitude You Didn’t Know About: How Gratitude Can Change
Your Life) in two studies with 243 total participants, those who were 10% more
grateful than average had 17.5% more social capital. Gratitude makes us nice,
more trusting and social not to mention, more appreciative. This results in deeper
relationships and improved marriages. Not bad, right? Did you know that gratitude
can boost your career? It makes you a more effective manager, helps you network,
increases your decision making abilities, productivity and helps you get mentors
and protégés. So, this results in a greater ability to achieve your
career goals and makes the workplace a friendlier atmosphere to be in. A few other
great benefits is that is boosts our emotions, helps develop our personalities,
creates optimism and reduces materialism…just to name a few. Psychological
and behavioral research has shown the surprising life improvements that can manifest
from the practice of gratitude. A study was conducted by psychologists Michael
McCollough (Southern Methodist University) and Robert Emmons (University of California)
on the act of gratitude. The study broke the group up into three parts - the participants
of all three groups were asked to keep a journal. The first group kept a journal
on events that happened during their day - not necessarily good or bad; the 2nd
group was asked to record unpleasant experiences; the last was asked to make a
list daily of things they were grateful for. The results of the study showed that
daily gratitude expresses results in higher reported levels of alertness, energy,
determination and optimism. Also, the group expressed less stress, anxiety and
depression exercised more and achieved more goals they set. Another study showed
that gratitude not only can be deliberately cultivated but can increase levels
of well-being and happiness among those who do cultivate it. You see, when we
are grateful for even the hardships we experience, our vibration shifts and the
doors open.
When you realize their is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs
to you.
- Lao Tzu. Labels: cella, cella's chat, change, gradtitude, life, marcella, marcella zappia, mental, relationship, zappia