What is Gratitude?
As the year comes to an end and the holidays pass, there are many opportunities for family and friends to come together to celebrate accomplishments, mourn losses, and reflect on past challenges that help us make better choices tomorrow. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, gratitude is “a strong feeling of appreciation for someone or something that has helped you.” Gratitude can be seen as an emotion, attitude, moral virtue, habit, personality trait, and coping response. It can be beneficial during both positive and challenging times, enhancing a sense of fulfillment.
Is Gratitude Beneficial? How?
Gratitude has been shown to improve psychological well-being, including increased life satisfaction, mood, happiness, and positive outlook. Research on cardiac patients has found that greater gratitude is associated with better sleep, less fatigue, reduced depressed mood, improved cardiac self-efficacy, and lower levels of inflammatory biomarkers. Gratitude is also used as a psychotherapeutic tool to combat disorders related to depression and anxiety. Expressing gratitude has been shown to reduce pessimism, unhappiness, complaints of malaise and pain, feelings of loneliness, isolation, lack of engagement, and toxic emotions like anger, hurt, and fear.
How Can You Show Gratitude?
Gratitude can be expressed in a variety of ways, such as keeping a gratitude journal, expressing gratitude to others verbally or in writing, sharing pictures with captions of gratitude, and identifying things in life that make you feel grateful. A gratitude journal is a cost-effective way to manage and counteract feelings of mental instability, depression, and anxiety.
A gratitude journal can be kept in physical or digital form. When writing in it, find a peaceful, calm place to relax and reflect on positive moments. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes to allow yourself enough time to process and record your thoughts.
Gratitude prompts include:
What is something that happened today that made you happy?
What personal characteristic are you proud of?
What event or experience served as a learning lesson?
Gratitude is a simple, cost-effective practice that can improve mood and overall well-being. Just five minutes at the beginning or end of the day can make a big difference, helping you reflect on the day’s achievements while setting goals for tomorrow. Start with one positive thought and let it grow.
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Author: Dr. Kellyann Tomko, ND
References
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/gratitude
Diniz G, Korkes L, Tristão LS, Pelegrini R, Bellodi PL, Bernardo WM. The effects of gratitude interventions: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Einstein (Sao Paulo). 2023 Aug 11;21:eRW0371. doi: 10.31744/einstein_journal/2023RW0371. PMID: 37585888; PMCID: PMC10393216.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022399920301847
https://www.calm.com/blog/gratitude-journal
Disclaimer:
This information is generalized and intended for educational purposes only. Due to potential individual contraindications, please see your primary care provider before implementing any strategies in these posts.