04 Aug The Different Shades of Gratitude
There’s absolutely no doubt that the practice of gratitude enhances health and wellbeing and happiness.
But there’s also no doubt, that like everything else, there are different ways to practice gratitude; and different things will work for different people.
Happiness will come to those who find their way; and who find ways to make it work for them in different situations at different times.
If you’d like to up your gratitude game, keep reading …
via Psychology Today by Jolanta Burke
KEY POINTS
- Expressing gratitude is associated with such benefits as reducing mood disorders and suicidal ideation.
- Practicing gratitude activities like listing what you are grateful for boosts positive emotions but does not affect other aspects of well-being.
- A new study shows that discussing what we are grateful for amplifies well-being, compared to merely listing things we are grateful for.
Gratitude is one of the most frequently recommended and practised positive psychology interventions worldwide and represents a national holiday in some countries–Thanksgiving.
Happiness apps propose it as their primary tool for enhancing well-being; therapists send their clients home with a “count your blessings” activity. It is recommended for anyone who wants to boost their well-being, reduce depression, or cope with life adversities.
In other words, we work on the principle that if you are sick, well, or somewhere in between, you can’t go wrong with a bit of gratitude. However, gratitude comes in different shades; depending on how we practise it, gratitude can impact different aspects of our well-being.
Gratitude is a disposition (trait) or a state of feeling thankful for what we have in our experiences or circumstances. Gratitude interventions are activities you are encouraged to do to enhance your gratitude. They include the following:
- Count your blessings: Write down what you are grateful for once or three times a week.
- Provide rationale: Write down what you are grateful for and explain why.
- WWW (what went well): On the way from work, reflect on what went well for you, especially if you had a bad day; reflect on what went well for you or your team since your last meeting.
- It could be worse: Reflect on what could be worse about an adverse event and what you are grateful for about the event.
- Letter of gratitude: Write a letter of gratitude and send it to someone or visit them and read it aloud.
- Share your gratitude: Thank someone who did something good and explain what you are grateful to them for.
- Gratitude coaching: After conducting a gratitude activity, discuss what you are grateful for with your coach.
Expressing gratitude is associated with such benefits as reducing mood disorders and suicidal ideation. In addition, it is beneficial for physiological health as it reduces heart rate and improves sleep quality. Many patients diagnosed with cancer, multiple sclerosis, neuromuscular disease, and palliative care found gratitude helpful. However, it is also essential to understand the limitations of some of the gratitude studies to help us engage with gratitude more effectively…
… keep reading the full & original article HERE