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2024-03-13 05:42:32

What Is Gratitude and How Can You Practice It?

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Self-Improvement

How to Practice Gratitude

It's important to be grateful for the things we have.

Kendra Cherry, MSEd

Kendra Cherry, MS, is a psychosocial rehabilitation specialist, psychology educator, and author of the "Everything Psychology Book."

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Signs of Gratitude

Types of Gratitude

How to Practice Gratitude

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What is Gratitude and Why Is It So Important?

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Gratitude

3 Oct 2023

What is Gratitude and Why Is It So Important?

28 Feb 2017 by Tiffany Sauber Millacci, Ph.D.

Scientifically reviewed by Christina R. Wilson, Ph.D.

When you feel down in the dumps or find yourself in a funk, how do you cope?

Do you turn to junk food, self-medication, shopping, etc.?

One healthy, powerful, and free strategy to rise from this temporary emotional state is to practice gratitude.

Gratitude turns what little you have into abundance.

Gratitude is so much more than saying thank you.

Gratitude changes your perspective of your world.

But yet you wonder how you can find the positive when everything seems so bleak? Read on to learn how to identify the positive when it seems there is nothing to be grateful for. We’ll also explain the importance of gratitude, how to show it to others, and share gratitude and appreciation videos.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free. These detailed, science-based exercises will help you or your clients connect to more positive emotions and enjoy the benefits of gratitude.

This Article Contains:

What is Gratitude – Its Meaning & Definition

Gratitude & Positive Psychology – What is the Connection?

Why Is It Important to Be Grateful?

The Importance of Gratitude in Life

The Importance of Thanksgiving

How to Show Gratitude and Appreciation

5 YouTube Gratitude Videos

A Take-Home Message

References

What is Gratitude – Its Meaning & Definition

Gratitude is an emotion similar to appreciation. The American Psychological Association (n.d.) more specifically defines this phenomenon as a sense of happiness and thankfulness in response to a fortunate happenstance or tangible gift.

Gratitude is both a state and a trait (Jans-Beken et al., 2020). Better explained, one can experience gratitude for someone or something at a certain moment in time, and someone experience gratitude more long-term as a positive character trait.

According to Dr. Robert Emmons, the feeling of gratitude involves two stages (Emmons & McCullough, 2003):

First comes the acknowledgment of goodness in one’s life. In a state of gratitude, we say yes to life. We affirm that, all in all, life is good and has elements that make it worth living. The acknowledgment that we have received something gratifies us, both by its presence and by the effort the giver put into choosing it.

Second, gratitude is recognizing that sources of this goodness lie outside the self. One can be grateful to our creator, other people, animals, and the world, but not to oneself. At this stage, we recognize the goodness in our lives and who to thank for it.

The two stages of gratitude comprise the recognition of the goodness in our lives and then how this goodness came to us. Through this process, we recognize the fortune of everything that improves our lives and ourselves.

Further, gratitude can be considered either a dispositional trait or a state of being.

As a trait, an individual practices gratitude as part of their daily life (McCullough et al., 2002), and it is considered a character strength. It is important to remember that gratitude is a strength that can be enhanced with awareness and practice.

When a person experiences the emotion from someone expressing gratitude for them, it is referred to as a state (Watkins et al., 2009).

Gratitude & Positive Psychology – What is the Connection?

As we already know, positive psychology focuses on positive thoughts and behaviors. Its constructs include optimism, hope, and, you guessed it – gratitude (Iodice et al., 2021).

As part of Seligman’s PERMA model, which includes positive emotion, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement, a key positive emotion includes gratitude (Lianov, 2021).

Robert Emmons has led positive psychology’s expansion of research on the importance of gratitude. Emmons has authored several papers on the psychology of gratitude, showing that being more grateful can lead to increased levels of wellbeing (Emmons & Crumpler, 2000).

Some of Emmons’s work has also specifically dealt with gratitude in a religious setting, highlighting how gratitude towards a higher power may lead to increased physical health (Krause et al., 2015). There will be more on gratitude and religion later.

Download 3 Free Gratitude Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you or your clients with tools to build daily gratitude habits, express more appreciation toward others, and experience more positive emotions in everyday life.

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Why Is It Important to Be Grateful?

Passmore and Oades (2016) assert that as expectations have changed, gratitude has diminished in western society. Possessions and health are expectations for many individuals rather than considered personal ‘blessings’ that are appreciated. “Gratitude has, for many, been replaced by disappointment, anger, and resentment when these expected ‘blessings’ either do not appear or they disappear” (Passmore & Oades, 2016, p. 43).

We have learned gratitude helps people focus on the positive aspects of their life. Gratitude can help build and maintain relationships with others, resulting in hope, life satisfaction, and more proactive behaviors toward others (Passmore & Oades, 2016).

If you still aren’t convinced, you may wish to pick up one of the books suggested in our Gratitude Books article.

The Importance of Gratitude in Life

Gratitude is strongly related to wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al., 2020; Wood et al., 2010). The positive effects of experiencing and expressing gratitude are endless.

Gratitude has been found to be beneficially associated with social wellbeing, emotional wellbeing, and psychological wellbeing (Jans-Beken et al., 2020). It is no surprise that trait gratitude is an important “predictor of wellbeing and other desirable life outcomes” (Portocarrero et al., 2020, p. 6).

Gratitude appears to have a domino effect. If a person experiences gratitude, they are more likely to recognize the help and then later reciprocate that help (Wood et al., 2010). People who are thanked are presumably more apt to extend help to others in the future.

Likewise, people who are not thanked may not be expected to provide reciprocation in the future. The expression of gratitude is beneficial for both individuals and society (Bono et al., 2004).

Further, gratitude is an element in many religions. For example (Passmore & Oades, 2016),

Buddhism – Gratitude is indicative of the concept of dependent origination, which implies that everything is interconnected. For Buddhists, awareness of our interdependent and interconnected existence evokes gratitude for the web of life that sustains us.

Judaism – Individuals practicing Judaism may start the day with Modeh Ani, a short Hebrew blessing thanking God for life.

Christianity – Christians denote gratitude to God by stating blessings. These blessings are said in a prayer form and are created for food, family, life, and any other blessings that God may grant.

As if you needed any more convincing, in a review of the literature, Cregg and Cheavens (2021) found that gratitude has a positive affiliation with positive affect, life satisfaction, extraversion, forgiveness, and a negative affiliation with substance abuse and neuroticism, as well as an inverse relationship between gratitude and anxiety and depression.

The Iceberg of Gratitude

What exactly is gratitude, and how can we experience more of it daily?

Gratitude is the act of recognizing and acknowledging the good things that happen, resulting in a state of appreciation (Sansone & Sansone, 2010).

Often when we consider what we are grateful for, overt and profound life experiences, circumstances, and events come to mind. We may feel grateful for our upbringing, family, job, good health, and the opportunity to gain an education. While recognizing and being grateful for these experiences is important, our gratitude practice must also venture below the surface.

Below the surface, we find the simple, everyday pleasures that often go unnoticed. This may be a great book we read, laughter with a friend, or even the joy of eating ice cream in the sunshine. Whatever these simple pleasures may be, consciously expressing our gratitude for them can help us grow our daily gratitude practice beyond the surface level.

We invite you to consider the full iceberg of gratitude, your fortunate life experiences, as well as simple daily pleasures.

The Importance of Thanksgiving

If you are from North America, then cornucopia, turkey, Pilgrims, and Native Americans may come to mind when you mention the word ‘Thanksgiving.’ Thanksgiving is more broadly explained as a day to give thanks. Countries such as Grenada, Saint Lucia, and Liberia also celebrate Thanksgiving, while countries like Brazil and the Philippines celebrate it unofficially (Vicens, 2022).

The Netherlander town of Leiden and the Australian territory of Norfolk Island also celebrate this holiday (Vicens, 2022). Similarly, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Japan celebrate a fall harvest, where people also give thanks.

So why is there an entire holiday created for giving thanks?

For many, “Thanksgiving is a collective ritual that celebrates material abundance through feasting.” (Wallendorf & Arnould, 1991, p. 13). Thanksgiving is important because it is a designated time assigned to encourage us to pause to be mindful of the blessings we have. Many of us get so caught up in our day-to-day routines that we fail to stop and acknowledge our fortunes.

To demonstrate and celebrate gratitude, you don’t need a particular holiday to show thankfulness. Conveying gratitude should be practiced daily.

How to Show Gratitude and Appreciation

Gratitude can be demonstrated in many ways. It can be shown with merely a simple, verbal “thank you” or it can be indicated by a more elaborate practice, such as the strategies detailed below.

To improve your gratitude, reflect on how better you can show your appreciation to others. When verbally expressing gratitude to someone, consider reflecting on your emotions and on the effort involved. Here are some examples:

‘Your birthday gift to me makes me overjoyed. I appreciate the length you went to in order to find this limited edition book by my favorite author. I value that you know me so well and did this especially for me.’

‘Mom, I am grateful for the life you have given me. Even though it took 15 hours to deliver me and raising me was full of challenges, you have done the best you could and I appreciate that.’

‘Our Father in Heaven, you have blessed me with ten fingers and ten toes, eyes to see and ears to hear. I am grateful for the wonder of your creation and for sparing my life every day.’

For more examples, read our article How to Express Gratitude to Others.

Gratitude journal

A gratitude journal involves jotting down a few things that you are thankful for and can be done daily or weekly as you so choose. Keeping a gratitude journal is a good first step toward establishing gratitude, and it will help you identify and reflect on people, things, or events for which you are thankful.

Nawa and Yamagishi’s (2021) research involving university students concluded that completing a gratitude journal not only positively impacts academic motivation, it favorably influences goal-directed behavior in general.

In this study, 84 students were placed into either an active manipulation group (gratitude group) or a neutral control group. For two weeks, the active manipulation group was asked to list five things they were grateful for and evaluate various aspects of their daily lives, while the control group was only asked to do daily self-evaluations. Unsurprisingly, the gratitude group demonstrated significant enhancements in academic motivation.

You can make use of our gratitude journal article, which includes journal worksheets with prompts to guide you into the good habit of daily gratitude journaling.

Gratitude letter

Writing a gratitude letter is a form of written communication that conveys an appreciation for someone in your life. These effectively communicate the impact someone has had on our lives.

Further, the gratitude research conducted by Iodice et al. (2021) concluded that individuals who wrote about things they are grateful for showed better mood, coping, and physical health. In this study, participants were assigned to one of three groups: Group one wrote about things they were grateful for, group two wrote about daily hassles, and group three wrote about a neutral topic.

Within their review of literature, these researchers also cited Emmons and McCullough (2003), whose findings suggested that individuals who practiced gratitude by writing about things they are grateful for showed better mood, coping, and physical health than the other participants.

The gratitude visit

Take the gratitude letter a step further by visiting the person to whom you are giving the gratitude letter and reading it aloud to him or her. A study by Wood et al. (2010) suggests that gratitude visits are a practice that is even more beneficial than a gratitude letter and practitioners of this strategy reported more happiness.

In their preliminary research, Wood et al. (2010) referenced two studies involving gratitude visits. In a study by Seligman et al. (2005), adults from an internet sample were instructed to write and deliver their gratitude letter within 1-week. Those who went on the gratitude visit reported more happiness and less depression than the control group.

Another study by Froh, Kashdan et al., (2009; Froh, Yurkewicz et al., 2009) resulted in similar findings. A sample of children and adolescents from a parochial school were divided into two groups: a group who conducted a gratitude visit and a group who wrote about daily events. Findings indicated that the youth who experienced the gratitude condition reported greater gratitude and positive affect than the youth in the control condition.

Meditation

As we know, meditation is a method for focusing attention (Pascoe et al., 2021). Pascoe et al. (2021) conducted a systematic review of studies assessing the impact of meditation on psychological processes. They found that meditation, does in fact, “decrease distress experienced resulting from psychological stressors by influencing psychological processes” (p. 3).

Although meditation doesn’t directly demonstrate gratitude towards others, meditation and focusing attention on people or things you are grateful for indicates appreciation to yourself, which could help to foster even more gratitude.

No matter how small or grand the gesture of gratitude is, it is essential to show thankfulness in our everyday lives. After all,

Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.

William Arthur Ward (Brainyquote.com, n.d.)

We have a dedicated article offering gratitude meditation guidance for you to peruse.

And finally, if these four suggestions were not enough to get you started, we share an extensive list of methods in our article Most Popular Gratitude Exercises and Activities.

5 YouTube Gratitude Videos

These five handpicked gratitude videos will not only inspire you to practice gratefulness but also inform you of the importance of daily practicing this state or trait. If you’d like to enjoy an even greater selection, our blog post Best TED Talks And Videos on The Power of Gratitude shares over 30 excellent videos.

Gratitude is: A poem & animation – Macarena Luz Bianchi

Gratitude Is is a short, light-hearted poem accompanied by animation. This poem is also a full-color gift book available on Amazon as a highly-rated read. This would be a great video to share when beginning to discuss gratitude with a class.

The power of choosing gratitude – Tye Dutcher

Tye Dutcher, an international paralympic athlete, describes how gratitude changed and continues to change his life. After he experienced a horrifying accident at just 11 years old, Tye had a choice. He chose gratitude. He explains his thankfulness for what he has and the blessings he will receive.

The power of gratitude – Titan Man

If you practice gratitude daily, no matter how much or how little you have, you will be happy. This is the message Titan Man delivers in his video narrated by Oprah Winfrey. This video would be beneficial in serving as a daily reminder to show gratitude.

Gratitude is good for you – John Templeton Foundation

If you would like to know the additional benefits of gratitude, this short video by the John Templeton Foundation is fast-paced and engaging. Several strategies for growing gratitude are shared.

The power of gratitude – Psych2Go

Being grateful will make you healthier and happier. While you may have already gotten this message, this video explains the research conducted with adults and children that completed a type of gratitude journal. Gratitude in regard to mental health is discussed in greater detail.

A Take-Home Message

Someone could have everything and still feel like they have nothing. Someone could have nothing but still be happy with what they have. Recognizing gratitude towards non-tangibles, such as health and relationships, is a good start.

As we have learned in this piece, gratitude has endless benefits for both individuals and society and has deep roots in positive psychology.

It can be identified in many religions, as well as in the secular world. It is crucial to understand that gratitude can be defined as both a state and a trait. Perhaps with the exercises provided in this article, you will be able to move from a grateful state to a healthy trait.

There are various ways to demonstrate gratitude. Regardless of the method you choose, it is critical to convey thankfulness. Additionally, you don’t need to wait for a holiday to show appreciation.

Gratitude is the key to a happy life and should be continuous, practiced daily. Another important takeaway is that gratitude can have a snowball effect. You never know the positive effects your gratefulness will have on others and the future impact it will have.

Gratitude is a perspective – it is a choice. We hope that you choose gratitude today and every day. We’d like to leave you with this quote,

“Gratitude is the ability to experience life as a gift.”

John Ortberg (Zito, 2022).

To read more inspirational gratitude quotes, kindly refer to this article by Barbara Bellise Zito.

Who or what are you grateful for? How are you going to convey this thankfulness? Please let us know in the comments, or better yet, let that person know! Until next time, please know that we are thankful for YOU, our gracious reader!

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free.

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Gratitude. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/gratitude

Bono, G., Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2004). Gratitude in practice and the practice of gratitude. Positive Psychology in Practice, 464, 481.

Brainyquote.com. (n.d.). Retrieved on January 3, 2023 from https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/william_arthur_ward_105516

Cregg, D. R., & Cheavens, J. S. (2021). Gratitude interventions: Effective self-help? A meta-analysis of the impact on symptoms of depression and anxiety. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(1), 413-445.

Emmons, R. A., & Crumpler, C. A. (2000). Gratitude as a human strength: Appraising the evidence. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 19(1), 56-69.

Emmons, R. A., & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: an experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 377.

Froh, J. J., Kashdan, T. B., Ozimkowski, K. M., & Miller, N. (2009). Who benefits the most from a gratitude intervention in children and adolescents? Examining positive affect as a moderator. Journal of Positive Psychology, 4, 408–422.

Froh, J. J., Yurkewicz, C., & Kashdan, T. B. (2009). Gratitude and subjective well-being in early adolescence: Examining gender differences. Journal of Adolescence, 32, 633–650.

Iodice, J. A., Malouff, J. M., & Schutte, N. S. (2021). The association between gratitude and depression: A meta-analysis. International Journal of Depression and Anxiety, 4(1).

Jans-Beken, L., Jacobs, N., Janssens, M., Peeters, S., Reijnders, J., Lechner, L., & Lataster, J. (2020). Gratitude and health: An updated review. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(6), 743-782.

Krause, N., Emmons, R. A., & Ironson, G. (2015). Benevolent images of God, gratitude, and physical health status. Journal of Religion & Health 54(4), 1503-1519.

Lianov, L. (2021). A powerful antidote to physician burnout: intensive healthy lifestyle and positive psychology approaches. American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, 15(5), 563-566.

McCullough, M. E., Emmons, R. A., & Tsang, J. A. (2002). The grateful disposition: A conceptual and empirical topography. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 82(1), 112-127.

Nawa, N. E., & Yamagishi, N. (2021). Enhanced academic motivation in university students following a 2-week online gratitude journal intervention. BMC psychology, 9(1), 1-16.

Pascoe, M. C., de Manincor, M., Tseberja, J., Hallgren, M., Baldwin, P. A., & Parker, A. G. (2021). Psychobiological mechanisms underlying the mood benefits of meditation: A narrative review. Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology, 6, 100037.

Passmore, J., & Oades, L. G. (2016). Positive psychology techniques: Gratitude. The Coaching Psychologist, 12 (1). 34-35.

Portocarrero, F. F., Gonzalez, K., & Ekema-Agbaw, M. (2020). A meta-analytic review of the relationship between dispositional gratitude and well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 164, 110101.

Sansone, R. A., & Sansone, L. A. (2010). Gratitude and well being: the benefits of appreciation. Psychiatry (edgmont), 7(11), 18.

Seligman, M. E. P., Steen, T. A., Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2005). Positive psychology progress: Empirical validation of interventions. American Psychologist, 60, 410–421.

Vicens, L. (2022). For all the blessings of this life: On worship as thanksgiving. Journal of Analytic Theology, 10, 54-64.

Wallendorf, M., & Arnould, E. J. (1991). “We gather together”: Consumption rituals of thanksgiving day. Journal of Consumer Research, 18(1), 13-31.

Watkins, P. C., Van Gelder, M., & Frias, A. (2009). 41 Furthering the science of gratitude. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology, 437.

Wood, A. M., Froh, J. J., & Geraghty, A. W. (2010). Gratitude and well-being: A review and theoretical integration. Clinical Psychology Review, 30(7), 890-905.

Zito, B. (November, 8, 2022). 55 Best Gratitude Quotes – Short Quotes About Gratitude. Retrieved on January 3, 2023 from https://news.yahoo.com/55-best-gratitude-quotes-short-172941196.html

About the author

Tiffany Sauber Millacci, Ph.D., is an educator for both university students and elementary-aged students. She is a continuous learner who seeks facts through research and enjoys sharing her learning through her writing.

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romire

on November 17, 2023 at 20:53

Gratitude is an important part for life it teaches you to be grateful and like what you have until it gets taken away.

Narisara

on November 15, 2023 at 14:11

Thank you! Very helpful in preparing for my workshop. Love the thoroughness and heartfelt pace of the article. It is easy to snarl at, or resist feeling gratitude.

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How to Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others. Explore ways you can be more appreciative in our mindful guide to gratitude.

How to Practice Gratitude

Daily Practices

Starting a Journal

Gratitude and the Brain

Science of Gratitude

Practicing gratitude can be a game-changer: it has far reaching effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others. Living your life with gratitude helps you notice the little wins—like the bus showing up right on time, a stranger holding the door for you, or the sun shining through your window when you wake up in the morning. Each of these small moments strings together to create a web of well-being that, over time, strengthens your ability to notice the good.Building your capacity for gratitude isn’t difficult. It just takes practice. The more you can bring your attention to that which you feel grateful for, the more you’ll notice to feel grateful for!

Start by observing. Notice the thank yous you say. Just how much of a habitual response is it? Is it a hasty aside, an afterthought? How are you feeling when you express thanks in small transactions? Stressed, uptight, a little absent-minded? Do a quick scan of your body—are you already physically moving on to your next interaction?

Pick one interaction a day. When your instinct to say “thanks” arises, stop for a moment and take note. Can you name what you feel grateful for, even beyond the gesture that’s been extended? Then say thank you.

How Do I Practice Gratitude?

Robert Emmons, psychology professor and gratitude researcher at the University of California, Davis, explains that there are two key components of practicing gratitude:

We affirm the good things we’ve received

We acknowledge the role other people play in providing our lives with goodness

Most of us know it’s important to express thanks to the people who help us, or silently acknowledge the things we are grateful for in life. Research has linked gratitude with a wide range of benefits, including strengthening your immune system and improving sleep patterns, feeling optimistic and experiencing more joy and pleasure, being more helpful and generous, and feeling less lonely and isolated.

Interested in reaping some of these benefits? Get started with a gratitude practice.

Practicing Daily Gratitude

10 Ways to Practice Daily Gratitude

As Jon Kabat-Zinn says, “The little things? The little moments? They aren’t little.” Saying thank you, holding the door for someone, these little moments can change the tone of your whole day.

One of the most powerful ways to rewire your brain for more joy and less stress is to focus on gratitude. Here are 10 simple ways to become more grateful:

Keep a Gratitude Journal. Establish a daily practice in which you remind yourself of the gifts, grace, benefits, and good things you enjoy. Recalling moments of gratitude associated with ordinary events, your personal attributes, or valued people in your life gives you the potential to interweave a sustainable theme of gratefulness into your life.

Remember the Bad. To be grateful in your current state, it is helpful to remember the hard times that you once experienced. When you remember how difficult life used to be and how far you have come, you set up an explicit contrast in your mind, and this contrast is fertile ground for gratefulness.

Ask Yourself Three Questions. Meditate on your relationships with parents, friends, siblings, work associates, children, and partners using these three questions: “What have I received from __?”, “What have I given to __?”, and “What troubles and difficulty have I caused?”

Share Your Gratitude with Others. Research has found that expressing gratitude can strengthen relationships. So the next time your partner, friend or family member does something you appreciate, be sure to let them know.

Come to Your Senses. Through our senses—the ability to touch, see, smell, taste, and hear—we gain an appreciation of what it means to be human and of what an incredible miracle it is to be alive. Seen through the lens of gratitude, the human body is not only a miraculous construction, but also a gift.

Use Visual Reminders. Because the two primary obstacles to gratefulness are forgetfulness and a lack of mindful awareness, visual reminders can serve as cues to trigger thoughts of gratitude. Often times, the best visual reminders are other people.

Make a Vow to Practice Gratitude. Research shows that making an oath to perform a behavior increases the likelihood that the action will be executed. Therefore, write your own gratitude vow, which could be as simple as “I vow to count my blessings each day,” and post it somewhere where you will be reminded of it every day.

Watch Your Language. Grateful people have a particular linguistic style that uses the language of gifts, givers, blessings, blessed, fortune, fortunate, and abundance. In gratitude, you should not focus on how inherently good you are, but rather on the inherently good things that others have done on your behalf.

Go Through the Motions. Grateful motions include smiling, saying thank you, and writing letters of gratitude. By “going through grateful motions,” you’ll trigger the emotion of gratitude more often.

Think Outside the Box. If you want to make the most out of opportunities to flex your gratitude muscles, you must look creatively for new situations and circumstances in which to feel grateful. Please share the creative ways you’ve found to help you practice gratitude.

Try This 5-Minute Gratitude Meditation

Gratitude Practice: Savor The Moment—Elaine Smookler

5:00

Savor the good. On days when gratitude feels difficult to find, tune into your senses. This meditation invites you to cultivate thankfulness by slowing down and noticing what you can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste. There doesn’t have to be anything special going on in order to practice gratitude—maybe it’s as simple as feeling grateful for your morning coffee, or for a good book. Explore this simple practice to appreciate the little things.

Use the breath to anchor yourself in the present moment. Our minds are always so easily pulled to busyness. Bring particular attention to feeling the breath, or something in the body, as you bring your shoulders down and orient your attention toward gratitude.

Next, bring to mind a sight you are grateful for. Move through your senses, and find one thing to start with that you appreciate that comes to you from the world of sight, if you have this available. It could be a color…a shadow…a shape…a movement. Remember, it will never be like this again. What do you see right now, and can you feel grateful that you get to see this, whatever it is?

Now, shift to a scent you appreciate. As you continue to work with your senses, now take time to tune in with appreciation to an aroma. What do you notice? What about that glorious or interesting or subtle smell is making you smile? It could be gratitude for something familiar: a scent that brings comfort, upliftment; or maybe it’s something you’ve never smelled before, and it just piques your curiosity, ignites you, enlivens you.

Moving on, tune into any sounds around you. Allowing the world of smell to gently recede into the background, on an in-breath, shift your attention to your ears and the world of sound. Maybe notice what it feels like to really listen. How many sounds can you notice, and can you feel grateful that you’re able to experience sound, if you are? What can you notice about these sounds—far away? close? Perhaps you could play a piece of music that brings you joy, and have gratitude that it’s so available? Or maybe it’s the sound of children laughing, the sound of loved ones breathing, the sound of the beating of your own heart.

The world of touch and texture beckons us next. We find so much to be grateful for in touch! If there’s someone near who you can hug or who can hug you, notice how this makes you feel filled with gratitude for the joy of human contact. Or perhaps you have a beautiful pet that you can stroke and cuddle, or some lovely material with a texture that feels warm to the touch, soft, evocative. Let your senses ignite your gratitude! There’s so much to be appreciative of.

Shift to noticing and appreciating objects around you. Now take a moment to look around: Look down, look up, and from side to side. Appreciate how much effort must have gone into anything at all you own or use. Someone conceived of the need and many people worked on the details of the design. Much care even went into the packaging to deliver your item to you safely. What do you feel when you let yourself be grateful that all that talent went into making your life a little easier?

As you end this practice, carry this attitude of gratitude with you. One last little grateful tip: Why not offer your thanks to each person who does anything at all for you today? Even if it is their job to help you? When you’re grateful, when you let your heart open up and be filled with appreciation, notice how being grateful makes you feel.

Close with gratitude. I’m so grateful that you tuned in to this gratitude practice, and I appreciate your time, your effort, and your energy to be present, awake, and alive to your precious life. Have a beautiful day.

Daily Gratitude Journaling

The practice of writing in a journal, a diary, or just scribbling notes to ourselves on pieces of paper, has both a rich history and present-day appeal. The famous 20th-century novelist and diarist Anaïs Nin believed writing serves “to heighten our own awareness of life…to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection.” She was on to something. Writing has a remarkable way of shifting our awareness—keeping a journal can be an accessible way to experience that shift.

As a hobby, journaling is inexpensive, portable, and can brighten our quality of awareness, making sense of our thoughts, feelings, perspectives, our own developing story line as it happens. It gives us a chance to slow down, breathe, turn to a fresh page, and “get real” about what we’re thinking and feeling—also referred to, particularly in therapeutic settings, as expressive writing. Although we refer here to writing, journaling is not only about putting words on paper. Visual journals filled with sketches, doodles, or any form of art you desire, vastly expand the options and the accessibility of journaling practice. You don’t have to erase your doodles, correct your grammar, or worry about garnering Likes and emojis from a virtual fan club. In other words, expressive journaling is expressing yourself, for yourself.

How to Do It

There’s no wrong way to keep a gratitude journal, but here are some general ideas as you get started.

Write down up to five things for which you feel grateful. The physical record is important—don’t just do this exercise in your head. The things you list can be relatively small in importance (“The tasty sandwich I had for lunch today.”) or relatively large (“My sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy.”). The goal of the exercise is to remember a good event, experience, person, or thing in your life—then enjoy the good emotions that come with it.

9 Gratitude Writing Tips

As you write, here are nine important tips:

1. Be as specific as possible—specificity is key to fostering gratitude. “I’m grateful that my co-workers brought me soup when I was sick on Tuesday” will be more effective than “I’m grateful for my co-workers.”

2. Go for depth over breadth. Elaborating in detail about a particular person or thing for which you’re grateful carries more benefits than a superficial list of many things.

3. Get personal. Focusing on people to whom you are grateful has more of an impact than focusing on things for which you are grateful.

4. Try subtraction, not just addition. Consider what your life would be like without certain people or things, rather than just tallying up all the good stuff. Be grateful for the negative outcomes you avoided, escaped, prevented, or turned into something positive—try not to take that good fortune for granted.

5. See good things as “gifts.” Thinking of the good things in your life as gifts guards against taking them for granted. Try to relish and savor the gifts you’ve received.

6. Savor surprises. Try to record events that were unexpected or surprising, as these tend to elicit stronger levels of gratitude.

7. Revise if you repeat. Writing about some of the same people and things is OK, but zero in on a different aspect in detail.

8. Write regularly. Whether you write every other day or once a week, commit to a regular time to journal, then honor that commitment. But…

9. Don’t overdo it. Evidence suggests writing occasionally (1-3 times per week) is more beneficial than daily journaling. That might be because we adapt to positive events and can soon become numb to them—that’s why it helps to savor surprises.

Gratitude and the Brain

4 Ways to Train Your Brain to Practice More Gratitude

1. Take time to notice what’s around you

Practicing mindfulness helps you tune in to the present moment. It is possible that if you are a grateful person, you are more mindful of others’ gestures. The more often you tune into your awareness, the greater the chances you will notice all the good that’s around you to feel gratitude for, which can then bring satisfaction and happiness. Our ability to pick up on the beauty of nature, kindness from one another, the chance to make a living via a job, all require our ability to be cognizant of ourselves and our surroundings. Being mindful of help in the kitchen, or the color of the sky allows us to generate gratitude by simply noticing them.

2. Practice gratitude for the little things

We often remember to be grateful for big events, like graduating from university or getting married, but it can be more difficult to feel grateful for the small things we do every day. Reminding yourself that eating a meal, for example, is in itself special can be very powerful. Your immediate awareness of the food in front of you, combining flavors while removing hunger, is a great way to enjoy gratitude as often as you eat! Another example is feeling grateful in the morning for being able to comfortably sleep at night. We gain comfort, satisfaction and peace by practicing mindfulness and gratitude in this repeated fashion.

3. Share your gratitude for your loved ones

Most of us are a little bit guilty of taking our loved ones for granted. The next time you notice a kind act by a loved one, why not show gratitude by simply saying ‘thank you’ , or giving a hug? We ought to show appreciation and not let kind acts go unnoticed. Training yourself to show your gratefulness for loved ones can strengthen your relationships with others.

4. Spread gratitude via your social media platforms

Social media can feel so negative at times, but using it to share your gratitude can help create a more positive online atmosphere. For example, share an uplifting moment from a recent event or a lesson you learned from a book you read, or a photo of a place near you that you’re grateful for. Spreading good, and in a unique and uplifting way, is one way we each can do our part in this digital age to remind each other that we have a lot to be grateful for. Let us each inspire one another in this way.

Training our minds to practice gratitude more often is possible if we are mindful of ourselves, each other and our environment. Let us widen our circle of appreciation. Please share your ideas for reminding yourself to be grateful.

3 Ways Gratitude Benefits Our Brains

It can help relieve stress and pain. The regions associated with gratitude are part of the neural networks that light up when we socialize and experience pleasure. These regions are also heavily connected to the parts of the brain that control basic emotion regulation, such as heart rate and arousal levels, and are associated with stress relief and thus pain reduction. Feeling grateful and recognizing help from others creates a more relaxed body state and allows the subsequent benefits of lowered stress to wash over us. (We recently published a scientific paper elaborating on these ideas.)

It can improve our health over time. They are also closely linked to the brain’s “mu opioid” networks, which are activated during close interpersonal touch and relief from pain—and may have evolved out of the need for grooming one another for parasites. In other words, our data suggest that because gratitude relies on the brain networks associated with social bonding and stress relief, this may explain in part how grateful feelings lead to health benefits over time.

It can help those with depression. Perhaps even more encouraging, researcher Prathik Kini and colleagues at Indiana University performed a subsequent study examining how practicing gratitude can alter brain function in depressed individuals. They found evidence that gratitude may induce structural changes in the very same parts of the brain that we found active in our experiment. Such a result, in complement to our own, tells a story of how the mental practice of gratitude may even be able to change and re-wire the brain.

The Science of Gratitude

Gratitude offers us a way of embracing all that makes our lives what they are. More than just a happy feeling for the parts of our lives currently going our way, gratitude encompasses the willingness to expand our attention so that we perceive more of the goodness we are always receiving.

In the past two decades, a growing body of evidence in the field of social science has found that gratitude has measurable benefits for just about every area of our lives. Gratitude appears to contribute substantially to individual well-being and physical health. So much so that the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—a leader in research on the science of social and emotional well-being—describes gratitude as the “social glue” key to building and nurturing strong relationships.

Robert Emmons, professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and one of the world’s leading experts on the science of gratitude, defines gratitude as having two parts. The first is an affirmation of goodness: People can learn to wake up to the good around them and notice the gifts they have received. The second part of gratitude is recognizing that the source of this goodness rests outside of oneself—that we receive these gifts from other people, and sometimes from a higher power, fate, or the natural world. In other words, gratitude helps people realize that they wouldn’t be where they are without the help of others.

A Brain Built On Gratitude

Gratitude is more than just a momentary good feeling. Scientists who have studied written gratitude interventions, such as gratitude letters or journals, have found benefits for an individual’s mental health and well-being. Gratitude practices also appear to help you feel more satisfied in life and can boost your self-esteem, according to peer-reviewed research.

The Science: Feel Happier

In one study involving nearly 300 adults seeking counseling services at a university, one randomized group wrote a gratitude letter each week for three weeks. The gratitude group reported significantly better mental health (compared to the control group) at follow-up, 12 weeks after the last writing exercise. Another type of written gratitude practice is counting blessings, or “Three Good Things.”A study of this practice found that people who wrote down three things that had gone well in their day and identified the causes of those good things were significantly happier and less depressed, even six months after the study ended.

How It Works: Strengthen Positive Recall

How exactly do these practices work to improve our mental well-being?

In general, people are more cognitively aware of their “headwinds” (or barriers they face) than “tailwinds” (benefits they receive). By paying more attention to our tailwinds, studies have shown that we can accentuate feelings of happiness, optimism, and positive emotion.

“Strengthening your positive recall bias makes it easier to see the good things around you even when times are dark,” says Nancy Davis Kho, author of the book The Thank-You Project: Cultivating Happiness One Letter of Gratitude at a Time. Nancy set a lofty goal of writing 50 thank-you letters to people in her life and found that the practice improved her ability to weather some of life’s bigger challenges.

At first, Nancy found it difficult to come up with a list of 50 people. After she got started on the letters, the practice naturally boosted positive emotion and she was able to extend her gratitude well beyond her family and friends. Nancy encourages those writing gratitude letters to find “the creative people whose work carries you beyond yourself, whose vision helps you clarify your own, whose talent and hard work have combined to create a body of work that brings you simple joy.”

Why Practice: Deepen Resilience

Enduring gratitude is not just about happiness and positivity; it doesn’t require you to ignore or stifle negative emotions. In the book The Gratitude Project: How the Science of Thankfulness Can Rewire Our Brains for Resilience, Optimism, and the Greater Good, Robert Emmons writes that “practicing gratitude magnifies positive feelings more than it reduces negative feelings.” Gratitude helps you see the bigger picture and become more resilient in the face of adversity.

Nourish a Grateful Body

When digging into the science of gratitude, we begin to see there are more dimensions to this emotion than meet the eye. In the scientific literature, gratitude is studied in several different ways:

Trait gratitude, which refers to whether people have a natu- rally grateful personality. Gratitude as a mood, which tracks daily fluctuations in gratitude.

Gratitude as an emotion, which describes a passing feeling of gratitude (when receiving a thank-you letter, for example).

The “practice” of gratitude and the interventions that scientists use in their studies are activities designed to boost gratitude as a mood or emotion.

The Science: Boost Immunity and Heart Health

Research published in the last decade has shown that grateful people (those who have “trait gratitude”) have fewer common health complaints, such as headaches, digestion issues, respiratory infections, runny noses, dizziness, and sleep problems. It appears that practicing gratitude could also help to alleviate those pesky health problems. In one study, a group of college students who wrote about things they were grateful for once per week for 10 weeks reported fewer physical symptoms (such as headaches, shortness of breath, sore muscles, and nausea) compared to two other control groups.

How It Works: Calm the Nervous System

“Physiological changes associated with gratitude are typically a reduction in blood pressure and increasein vagal tone, which is taken as an index of increased parasympathetic influence on the peripheral nervous system,” says Dr. Emiliana Simon- Thomas, Science Director at the Greater Good Science Center. The parasympathetic nervous system (the part of the nervous system that allows our body to “rest and digest”) can help you conserve energy by slowing the heart rate, stimulating digestion, and contributing to overall relaxation.

This soothing of the nervous system may be one mechanism by which gratitude works to calm the body. A study of heart-failure patients who were randomly assigned to either an eight-week gratitude-journaling group or a treatment-as-usual group found that patients in the gratitude group showed more parasympathetic heart-rate variability, which is a sign of better heart health.

Why Practice: Make Healthier Choices

Strange as it may seem, gratitude can also encourage us to fuel our bodies with nourishing foods. Research shows grateful people report better physical health because they tend to engage in healthy activities such as focusing on nutrition. “We have found that getting people to express gratitude could help them work toward healthier eating behaviors, like more fruits and vegetables and less junk food,” says Lisa Walsh, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in social/personality psychology at University of California, Los Angeles, whose graduate studies included research with Sonja Lyubomirsky’s Positive Activities and Well-Being (PAW) Laboratory at the University of California, Riverside. In one of the PAW lab’s studies, high school students preselected a healthy eating goal and were asked to either write weekly gratitude letters or list their daily activities. Teens who expressed gratitude reported healthier eating behavior over time compared to those who just listed their activities. Other studies of people’s physical health outcomes have found that gratitude journaling can lead to better-quality sleep and lowered blood pressure.

Thankful to Those We Love

In addition to giving individual benefits, gratitude may also help to strengthen ties with friends, loved ones, and those in our wider communities. The find-remind-bind theory, first proposed by psychologist Sara Algoe—an associate professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—suggests that gratitude can help people identify good candidates for a new relationship (find), appreciate existing relationships (remind), and motivate people to maintain or invest in these relationships (bind). As Sara writes in a 2012 paper on her theory, “Gratitude starts inside one individual and its effects spread to a dyadic relationship and perhaps throughout a social network.”

The Science: Stronger Connections

“Social connection is likely key to well-being,” says Lisa Walsh. She explains that gratitude might not be an emotion that just makes people feel good; it appears to have social implications by motivating individuals to improve themselves. In an upcoming study from the PAW Laboratory at UC-Riverside, high school students who expressed gratitude had a mixed experience—they felt “elevated” (a positive emotion) and indebted. Immediately after writing their gratitude letters, the students also felt motivated to improve themselves.

Find-remind-bind theory suggests that expressing gratitude may prompt individuals to pay back the kindness they have received, and can also motivate a person to make decisions that will strengthen their relationships. Gratitude may increase a person’s desire to spend more time with someone, and it encourages prosocial behaviors.

How It Works: Better Communication

Gratitude also plays an important role in maintaining romantic relationships, acting as a “booster shot” to remind us why our partners are valuable and worth holding onto. By practicing gratitude, couples can initiate a cycle of generosity—one partner’s gratitude inspires the other to act in a way that reaffirms their commitment. One study found that receiving a thoughtful gesture from a partner was followed by increased feelings of gratitude and indebtedness. Experiencing gratitude from these acts of kindness led both partners to feel more connected and satisfied with their relationship the next day.

While many studies have examined the effects of writing gratitude, all the ways we communicate—letters, conversation, and social media—are avenues for expressing gratitude. Gratitude may also open the door to healthier communication styles within a relationship. Since the practice leads to more positive perceptions of our partners, friends, or family (and likely, greater trust), we may feel more comfortable talking through disagreements. In one study, participants who expressed gratitude toward a romantic partner or close friend reported greater ease when voicing relationship concerns in the future.

Why Practice: It’s Better Together

“Gratitude has made our family closer,” says Randi Joy, a chiropractor and life coach living in Ottawa. She’s been practicing gratitude with her family for about five years. “When we talk about our gratefulness and what we’re grateful for…we have a better connection,” she says. Whether it’s a gratitude walk where they discuss what they’re grateful for, or a list of their “gratefuls” at the dinner table, Randi’s family takes every opportunity to practice together.

Whether you hope to boost your mood and mental health, protect your physical health, or improve your personal relationships, a rich body of research in the field of social sciences has found that gratitude offers significant benefits. The takeaway: Cultivating gratitude can open the door to a different perspective-one that values the goodness in our lives. With practice, we can learn to see the bigger picture and navigate adversity with greater resilience.

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The Neuroscience of Gratitude and Effects on the Brain

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Gratitude

3 Oct 2023

The Neuroscience of Gratitude and Effects on the Brain

9 Apr 2019 by Madhuleena Roy Chowdhury, BA

Scientifically reviewed by William Smith, Ph.D.

We all want a happy life…

A cushy job, a perfect family, financial stability, and a great social life!

And in this indefinite pursuit of happiness that is mostly like a mirage, how often do we spare a minute to thank what we already have at this very moment?

Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. By conveying and receiving simple ‘thank you’ messages, we can truly derive the pleasure that we seek everywhere else. Gratitude, derived from the Latin word ‘gratia,’ means gratefulness or thankfulness.

In its simplest form, gratitude refers to a ‘state of thankfulness’ or a ‘state of being grateful’.

This Article Contains:

How Gratitude Works

The Neuroscientific Research into Gratitude

How Gratitude Affects the Brain

Does Gratitude Change the Brain?

Joy, Gratitude, and the Brain

Anxiety and Gratitude

Looking at Gratitude and Grief

The Relationship Between Resilience and Gratitude

Gratitude and Stress

A Look at Depression and Gratitude

How Does Gratitude Impact Mental Health?

A Take-Home Message

References

“Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings.”

Proverb

In positive psychology, gratitude is the human way of acknowledging the good things of life. Psychologists have defined gratitude as a positive emotional response that we perceive on giving or receiving a benefit from someone (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

A similar explanation was put forth by Emmons and McCullough who said that:

“Gratitude is associated with a personal benefit that was not intentionally sought after, deserved, or earned but rather because of the good intentions of another person” (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

Thanking others, thanking ourselves, Mother Nature, or the Almighty – gratitude in any form can enlighten the mind and make us feel happier. It has a healing effect on us (Russell & Fosha, 2008). The benefits of gratitude are endless, and in this article, let us try to explore what gratitude it, discuss its scientific base, and understand how we can use gratitude to be happier in life.

[Reviewer’s update]

While gratitude is part of a happy life (Watkins et al., 2003), and being happy may result in better health across a lifetime (e.g., Steptoe & Wardle, 2005; Cohen et al., 2003; Pettit et al., 2001), the most immediate and reliable benefits of gratitude are likely to be psychological and social, rather than physical.

How Gratitude Works

“Enjoy the little things. For one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.”

Robert Brault

Gratitude in all forms is associated with happiness. Whether we say ‘thank you’ to someone or receive the same from others, the feeling it brings is that of pure satisfaction and encouragement. Expressions of gratitude help in building and sustaining long term relationships, deal with adversities and bounce back from them with strength and motivation.

Gratitude brings happiness

Gratitude improves interpersonal relationships at home and work (Gordon, Impett, Kogan, Oveis, & Keltner, 2012). The connection between gratitude and happiness is multi-dimensional. Expressing gratitude not only to others but also to ourselves, induces positive emotions, primarily happiness. By producing feelings of pleasure and contentment, gratitude impacts on our overall health and wellbeing as well.

In a survey on gratitude in adult professionals, British psychologist and wellness expert Robert Holden found that 65 out of 100 people selected happiness over health, although they indicated that both were equally important for a good life. Holden, in his study, suggested that the roots of many psychopathological conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress are unhappiness.

Simple practices like maintaining a gratitude journal, complimenting the self, or sending small tokens and thank you notes can make us feel a lot better and enhance our mood immediately. Couple studies have also indicated that partners who expressed their thankfulness to each other often, could sustain their relationships with mutual trust, loyalty, and had long-lasting happy relationships.

Gratitude improves health

Gratitude impacts on mental and physical wellbeing. Positive psychology and mental health researchers in the past few decades have established an overwhelming connection between gratitude and good health. Keeping a gratitude journal causes less stress, improves the quality of sleep, and builds emotional awareness (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005).

Gratitude is positively correlated to more vitality, energy, and enthusiasm to work harder.

Gratitude builds professional commitment

Grateful workers are more efficient, more productive and more responsible. Expressing gratitude in the workplace is a proactive action toward building interpersonal bonds and trigger feelings of closeness and bonding (Algoe, 2012).

Employees who practice expressing gratitude at work are more likely to volunteer for more assignments, willing to take an extra step to accomplish their tasks, and happily work as a part of the team. Also, managers and supervisors who feel grateful and remember to convey the same, have a stronger group cohesiveness and better productivity.

They recognize good work, gives everyone their due importance in the group and actively communicates with the team members.

Gratitude makes a leader compassionate, considerate, empathetic, and loved among others.

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The Neuroscientific Research Into Gratitude

“Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions.”

Zig Ziglar

Gratitude was significant in ancient philosophies and cultures, for example, in the Roman culture, where Cicero mentioned gratitude as the ‘mother’ of all human feelings. As an area of neuropsychological research, however, it was a rare subject of concern until the last two decades (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).

Gratitude and the brain

Neural mechanisms that are responsible for feelings of gratitude have grabbed attention (Wood et al., 2008). Studies have demonstrated that at the brain level, moral judgments involving feelings of gratefulness are evoked in the right anterior temporal cortex (Zahn et al., 2009).

People who express and feel gratitude have a higher volume of gray matter in the right inferior temporal gyrus (Zahn et al., 2014).

Gratitude and neurotransmitters

Emily Fletcher, the founder of Ziva, a well-known meditation training site, mentioned in one of her publications that gratitude as a ‘natural antidepressant’. The effects of gratitude, when practiced daily can be almost the same as medications. It produces a feeling of long-lasting happiness and contentment, the physiological basis of which lies at the neurotransmitter level.

When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, and they make us feel ‘good’. They enhance our mood immediately, making us feel happy from the inside.

By consciously practicing gratitude everyday, we can help these neural pathways to strengthen themselves and ultimately create a permanent grateful and positive nature within ourselves.

Gratitude and social psychology

Gratitude has a social aspect to it that argues it to be a socially driven emotion. Social psychologists believe it to be entwined with the perception of what we have done for others and what others have done for us (Emmons & McNamara, 2006).

According to them, gratitude is an emotion that directly targets at building and sustaining social bondings (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008) and reinforce prosocial responses in the future (McCullough, Kimeldorf, & Cohen, 2008).

How Gratitude Affects the Brain

“It is not happiness that brings us gratitude. It is gratitude that brings us happiness.”

Gratitude may be a gesture or a group of kind words that we give or receive from others. But these simple exchanges of thankfulness goes a long way in affecting our overall biological functioning – especially the brain and the nervous system. The effect of gratitude on the brain is long lasting (Zahn et al., 2007).

Besides enhancing self-love and empathy, gratitude significantly impacts on body functions and psychological conditions like stress, anxiety, and depression.

1. Gratitude releases toxic emotions

The limbic system is the part of the brain that is responsible for all emotional experiences. It consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus. Studies have shown that hippocampus and amygdala, the two main sites regulating emotions, memory, and bodily functioning, get activated with feelings of gratitude.

A study conducted on individuals seeking mental health guidance revealed that participants of the group who wrote letters of gratitude besides their regular counseling sessions, felt better and recovered sooner (Wong et al., 2018).

The other group in the study that were asked to journal their negative experiences instead of writing gratitude letters reported feelings of anxiety and depression.

2. Gratitude reduces pain

Counting Blessings vs Burdens (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), a study conducted on evaluating the effect of gratitude on physical wellbeing, indicated that 16% of the patients who kept a gratitude journal reported reduced pain symptoms and were more willing to work out and cooperate with the treatment procedure. A deeper dig into the cause unleashed that by regulating the level of dopamine, gratitude fills us with more vitality, thereby reducing subjective feelings of pain.

3. Gratitude improves sleep quality

Studies have shown that receiving and displaying simple acts of kindness activates the hypothalamus, and thereby regulates all bodily mechanisms controlled by the hypothalamus, out of which sleep is a vital one.

Hypothalamic regulation triggered by gratitude helps us get deeper and healthier sleep naturally everyday. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling refreshed and energetic every morning (Zahn et al., 2009).

4. Gratitude aids in stress regulation

McCraty and colleagues (cited in McCraty & Childre, 2004), in one of their studies on gratitude and appreciation, found that participants who felt grateful showed a marked reduction in the level of cortisol, the stress hormone. They had better cardiac functioning and were more resilient to emotional setbacks and negative experiences.

Significant studies over the years have established the fact that by practicing gratitude we can handle stress better than others. By merely acknowledging and appreciating the little things in life, we can rewire the brain to deal with the present circumstances with more awareness and broader perception.

5. Gratitude reduces anxiety and depression

By reducing the stress hormones and managing the autonomic nervous system functions, gratitude significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. At the neurochemical level, feelings of gratitude are associated with an increase in the neural modulation of the prefrontal cortex, the brain site responsible for managing negative emotions like guilt, shame, and violence.

As a result, people who keep a gratitude journal or use verbal expressions for the same, are more empathetic and positive minded by nature.

Does Gratitude Change the Brain?

The Mindfulness Awareness Research Center of UCLA stated that gratitude does change the neural structures in the brain, and make us feel happier and more content.

Feeling grateful and appreciating others when they do something good for us triggers the ‘good’ hormones and regulates effective functioning of the immune system.

Scientists have suggested that by activating the reward center of the brain, gratitude exchange alters the way we see the world and ourselves.

Dr. Alex Korb, in his book Upward Spiral mentioned that gratitude forces us to focus on the positive sides of life.

When we give and receive ‘thank you’ notes, our brain is automatically redirected to pay attention to what we have, producing intrinsic motivation and a strong awareness of the present. Also, at the neurochemical level, gratitude acts as a catalyst for neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine – the ones that manage our emotions, anxiety, and immediate stress responses.

You can find a list with the best books on gratitude here.

Joy, Gratitude, and the Brain

“Be thankful for what you have, you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never ever have enough.”

Oprah Winfrey

Grateful people can derive more happiness and pleasure in daily life. As mentioned by G.K. Chesterton in his famous agricultural metaphor, the pursuit of true happiness is much the same as cultivation. We won’t get the desired result unless we nourish and nurture the seeds properly (Chesterton, 1986). The effects of practicing gratitude are not immediate, and they don’t appear magically.

But once started, gratitude continues to impact our physical and psychological wellbeing for years.

We know how to experience and express gratitude. All we need sometimes is a little push or a reminder of how powerful and vital gratitude exercises are. Dr. Amit Kumar revealed an interesting fact in his recent research on gratitude exercises (Kumar & Epley, 2018).

In the study, participants were asked to leave notes to people who meant a lot in their lives – for example, teachers, spouse, or friends. And these notes were not small papers saying ‘thank you’. They had to be detailed and more in-depth. Surprisingly, participants could finish writing lengthy gratitude notes in less than five minutes, and reported feelings of contentment after doing so.

Cultivating happiness and joy with gratitude

Unhappy people lean more on their weakness and struggle with their self-identity. We must stop doubting ourselves and start celebrating our achievements. Wondering how? Here are some simple hacks that might help you.

1. Appreciate Yourself

Stand in front of your mirror and speak out five good things to yourself. It can be about your past achievements or your present efforts, your talents and your virtues. Just say the words aloud. Compliment yourself with words like beautiful, loyal, disciplined, kind, loving, etc., and notice if that makes you feel better. Repeat this as often as you want to and record your experience.

2. Gratitude journal

You might have heard about this before. A gratitude journal is your personal space to pen down all the little and big things in life that you are thankful for. Your gratitude journal can accommodate in your ‘dear diary’, your daily planner, or your online notepad. As you sit to express gratitude, you will consciously choose to focus on the good memories and might even recollect some long lost happy moments.

There is power in words, so don’t overlook the small things, no matter how unimportant they may seem. A gratitude journal can look something like this:

3. Gratitude Visits

We all have someone, whose unconditional support and help meant a lot to us. We feel as if we ‘owe’ our happiness and success to them. If you have such a person, he/she might be your friend, family, or a professional associate, meet them once or twice a month.

Initiate the plan, go and express your thankfulness one more time – let the person feel important. Exchange some good memories and offer your support. In most cases, gratitude visits bring a feeling of sanctity and positivity instantly.

4. Do not hesitate to be happy

If you feel happy, don’t shy away from it. Remind yourself that you have worked hard enough to achieve this and you truly deserve it. Be it a huge achievement or a small success, acknowledge your joy and be thankful for the moment. Accepting happiness makes us stronger and more grateful for what we have. We learn to praise our efforts and prepare ourselves better for facing difficulties in the future.

5. Find a gratitude buddy

Find a gratitude buddy for your daily practice – it can be your spouse, your kid, or your friend at work. Set aside some minutes everyday where you two (or more if you have more buddies) sit together and discuss the things you are thankful for. Ask questions to each other and open up informally. Sharing thoughts of gratefulness with someone is a great way to sustain motivation strengthen your emotional skills.

Anxiety and Gratitude

Anxiety is our body’s inbuilt wake-up call that alerts us against danger.

When fear sets in, our body releases hormones that create the fight or flight responses, and we react likewise. The brain doesn’t get much time to analyze the right or wrong when the adrenaline rush begins.

The worst upshot of anxiety is that it makes us feel insecure, and we start questioning our inner strengths. Eventually, coping mechanisms start failing.

In the book ‘Grateful Brain,’ author Alex Korb (2012) said that our brain is conditioned to function in a repeated way. For example, a person who worries too much about the adverse outcomes will subconsciously re-wire his brain to process negative information only. Korb has mentioned that our mind cannot focus on positive and negative information at the same time.

By consciously practicing gratitude, we can train the brain to attend selectively to positive emotions and thoughts, thus reducing anxiety and feelings of apprehension.

Recent studies into gratitude and anxiety

These findings got stronger validation after a recent study conducted on the relationship between gratitude and death anxiety (Lau & Cheng, 2011).

The experiment was conducted on 83 Chinese adults, aged above 60 years, who were divided into three groups. One of the three groups were asked to write gratitude notes and words of positivity, another was asked to write about their worries, and the third group was given a neutral task.

After task completion, the groups were exposed to stimuli arousing death anxiety, the inevitable fear that we all suffer from.

Results showed that participants of the first group who wrote gratitude notes showed fewer symptoms of death anxiety than the other two groups. Re-examination of the results showed that with a grateful attitude in life, we gain acceptance and become fearless of the future.

At a neurobiological level, gratitude regulates the sympathetic nervous system that activates our anxiety responses, and at the psychological level, it conditions the brain to filter the negative ruminations and focus on the positive thoughts.

Because of its implications in anxiety reduction, gratitude practices like journaling and group discussions are now a significant part of mental health interventions and life coaching regimes.

Gratitude practices are especially effective for treating phobias like death anxiety, PTSD, social phobia, and nihilism.

Gratitude And Grief

“Gratitude makes sense of your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow”

Melody B.

Difficult as it may sound, but grieving with gratitude can bring in a ray of hope in the darkest times in life. Finding a reason to be thankful in days of despair may seem impossible. In her book on gratitude and grief, Kelly Buckley (2017) mentioned how she found the meaning of her pain and her life after losing her 23-year old son.

While it is true that practicing gratitude makes us resilient to negative emotions and distress, it cannot be denied that mundane misfortunes are inevitable and are bound to affect our wellbeing.

Grief Management With Gratitude

1. Cry your heart out

Crying doesn’t make us weak. Instead, it is an act of acceptance and awareness of our emotions. We cry because we know how we are feeling and why we are feeling so. It gives a vent to the pain and helps us to step up and change our lives.

2. Collect the broken pieces

Grieving with gratitude lets us appreciate the things that we still have. For example, for a person who just got fired from his job, thanking his family and friends, who stand by his side during the crisis, can help in reducing the pain. By consciously acknowledging their love and support, he can feel grateful and regain the motivation to look for other employment opportunities.

3. Ask for help

Do not hesitate to seek professional help when all your coping mechanisms fail. Studies have shown that people who practice gratitude are more willing to participate in counseling and therapy for managing their depression, and the prognosis is much brighter in such instances.

4. Keep a gratitude jar

Keep a glass jar or a transparent box and some small pieces of paper beside it. Take up one paper everyday and write about one thing that you are grateful for today. It may be your family, good health, loving friends, your home, or yourself for enduring so much – anything that made you feel blessed that day. As the jar gets filled up, you will naturally feel more gifted and hopeful.

The grief may still be there, but you will gain the strength to look beyond it.

The Relationship Between Resilience And Gratitude

Gratitude fosters adaptive coping mechanisms. By managing positive emotions like satisfaction, happiness, and pleasure, gratitude enhances our emotional resilience and builds our inner strength to combat stress (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016).

Psychologists Shai Davidai and Thomas Gilovich, in one of their papers, called the ‘Headwinds/Tailwinds Asymmetry: An Availability Bias in Assessments of Barriers and Blessings’ (2016) mentioned that we tend to focus more on the obstacles and difficulties of life because they demand some action. We have to fight and overcome them to get back the normal flow of life.

On the flip-side, we forget to attend to the better things in life because they are ‘already there’ and we don’t have to do anything to make them stay with us. Practicing gratitude, according to Gilovich, is the best way to remind ourselves of the things that give us the courage to move on in life.

Studies on gratitude and resilience

A cross-sectional study published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry found a strong positive correlation between gratitude, resilience, and feelings of happiness (McCanlies, Gu, Andrew, & Violanti, 2018).

The study was conducted on a large sample of the adult population, and statistical treatment showed that participants who felt more grateful and practiced gratitude journaling, were found happier and emotionally stronger than others (McCanlies, Gu, Andrew, & Violanti, 2018).

An extension of the study on depressive patients showed that those who practiced gratitude exercises recovered soon and felt more motivated to bounce back from their distress.

Building Resilience With Gratitude

Many psychologists believe that emotional resilience is an interplay of five components (McCullough & Witvliet, 2002):

Social competence – The ability to stand out among others and the urge to win a situation

Problem-solving – The ability to focus on solutions and proactively act on them

Autonomy – The motivation to exercise freedom and ask for it when required

Forgiveness – The inner power to let go of something and move on from there

Empathy – The strength to feel others and look into the matter from their point of view.

Modern research and studies indicate that there is a sixth component to emotional resilience – gratitude. Gratitude builds emotional resilience by:

Helping us to see the positive things in life

Fighting the negative ruminations and rebuilding pessimistic thoughts with optimistic ones

Staying grounded and accept the present situation, even if that is a harsh reality

Identifying and focusing only on solutions

Maintain good health by regulating our metabolic functioning and by controlling the hormonal imbalances

Sustain relationships and appreciate people who are there for us. As a result, we feel more loved, cared for, and more hopeful.

Simple Gratitude Practices For Building Emotional Resilience

1. Meditation and breath control

Starting any gratitude practice with a brisk meditation and breath control session is a good idea. Deep breathing and constant focus allow the mind to settle down and gather itself. You feel more relaxed and more connected to yourself, and now is a good time to start your practice.

Here is a 2-minute meditation session that you can follow:

2. Gratitude list

Much like the gratitude journal, the gratitude list will help you come face-to-face with your blessings. Take a pen and paper (or your mobile notepad) and make a list of all those people who offered their support when you needed it the most. While you are writing, try to revert to the days and feel the thankfulness in your heart again. Once the list is made, look at it for 2 minutes and go back to work.

3. Gratitude notes

Once your gratitude list is completed, start writing small thank you note to each of the people you mentioned in the list before. The notes can be as short as you want, but make sure you are pouring your feelings into them. Send the messages to the people concerned – either as handwritten notes, or SMS, or emails. Just make sure your message reaches them and do not expect responses.

4. Reminiscence Meditation

Notice how this makes you feel more grateful and appreciative of the present. The time travel that we do with this meditation instantly exposes us to our fortitude – we start feeling more confident of ourselves and gain the strength to fight stress in the same way we did before.

Gratitude and Stress

“God gave you a gift of 86400 seconds today. Have you used one to say thank you?”

William Arthur Ward

Stress is our body’s natural response to change – be that good or bad. Positive stress or eustress brings us joy and is usually the least of our concerns. Unforeseen setbacks trigger negative stress or distress. We consider it as toxic and want to get rid of it.

Gratitude: A natural detox

Robert Emmons, a well-known mental health specialist, conducted several studies on stress and health which indicated that gratitude effectively releases stress hormones and increase positive emotions like happiness. Commitment to daily gratitude practice reduces an array of negative emotions and is a natural stress detox for the mind and body.

Studies have indicated that people who feel more grateful to Him, are healthier and stress resilient in life (Krause, 2006). An experiment conducted on three groups of individuals, each team representing a particular age-group, revealed that older men and women felt more grateful to God for their lives, and scored a high stress-tolerance index than others.

Pause. Breathe. And appreciate.

Gratitude is not a quick heal or an immediate relief for stress. Practicing gratitude doesn’t mean that we will be ever happy and delighted. Gratitude asks us to accept that we are sad and focus on how to reduce it. We don’t expect miracles when we write a gratitude journal; we just get a closer view of the right things that still exist in life. The benefits of gratitude journaling are multifarious.

By being more grateful in the inside and expressing it on the outside, we gain the power to combat and cope with the stress.

A Look at Depression and Gratitude

“It is impossible to feel depressed and grateful at the same moment.”

Naomi Williams

Dr. John Medina, in his bestseller project ‘Brain Rules’ mentioned how gratitude could be an eyeopener in low times. He indicated that by looking around and acknowledging the support that we have right now, we can successfully shift focus from our burdens to the blessings we have.

Depression has a psychological and a neurochemical base – both of which can be addressed by gratitude. By displacing our attention from problems to solutions, gratitude practices hit the serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin – neurotransmitters that make us feel good (Burton, 2020). With the surge of these chemicals in the brain, the apathy gets curbed away, and we revive the motivation that depression had sucked away.

Gratitude and appreciation is entwined with numerous benefits including enhanced mood and self-esteem (Killen & Macaskill, 2015). Gratitude as an intervention for treating depression is convenient, less time-consuming, less expensive, and useful for the long-term (Mills et al., 2015).

Gratitude exercises for dealing with depression

Sansone and Sansone (2010), has suggested three gratitude practices that work best with depression and grief (see Grief Counseling Techniques).

1. Gratitude Journal

As mentioned earlier, keeping a journal where you write about all the people and things in life you are grateful for, can make a remarkable difference in your mental state. We know how a gratitude journal looks like. Here are some tips on how to prepare and maintain one:

Commit to daily practice.

Set aside some time (for example early in the morning or right before bedtime) and journal your gratitude the same time everyday.

Go through the previous pages and recollect the good things that happened to you in the past.

When filling the journal, try to be as detailed as you can. Record every little thing associated with the person or the incident you are offering your gratitude to.

Make your journal attractive. Use colorful pens, stickers, or craft papers to give the gratitude journal an exciting look. Make the journaling more of an experience rather than a daily practice.

2. Gratitude Assessments

Self-assessments like GQ-6 (McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002) or the Gratitude Assessment (Hardy, 2010) can be a good way of evaluating how grateful we feel from the inside. Besides gaining insight on our level of gratitude, gratitude assessments increase awareness and present to us the array of possibilities to deal with our stress and negativities.

You can also take the Gratitude Quiz developed by Mitchel Adler and Nancy Fagley (2005), which gives an accurate estimate of what we are grateful for in life and how we can cultivate the mind to extract gratitude from the kindness we receive.

3. Gratitude Meditation

Gratitude meditation is a simple grounded technique to resonate our thoughts and feelings on all the people, situations, and things that we are truly grateful for. Through gratitude meditation, we choose to focus on ourselves (our achievements, our talents, our feelings at the moment) and on the world (our family, friends, and everyone else who unconditionally love and support us).

It enhances perspective, clarifies vision, and frees us from the burden of stress and burnout almost immediately.

Here is a guided gratitude meditation practice that you can follow:

How Does Gratitude Impact Mental Health?

“But I know that I spent a long time existing, and now I intend to live”

Sabaa Tahir

Stress does not have to control our lives when we feel and express gratitude regularly. There is no part of wellbeing that is untouched by gratitude, be that physical, mental, or social.

Practicing gratitude is gaining a life-view of thankfulness. By appreciating ourselves, our dear ones, Nature, and the Almighty, we experience the purest form if all positive emotions. It helps us to realize that nothing is obvious and nothing is to be taken for granted – for it is the little things in life where our real joy lies.

Dr. Emmons, in his studies on the striking effects of gratitude on mental health revealed:

Gratitude practices reduce cardiac diseases, inflammations, and neurodegeneration significantly

Daily journaling and gratitude jars can help individuals fighting with depression, anxiety, and burnout

Writing gratitude letters brings hope and evokes positivity in suicidal patients and those fighting terminal diseases

Gratitude improves the sleep-wake cycle and enhances mood. It helps people with insomnia, substance abuse, and eating disorders.

A Take-Home Message

Practicing gratitude is synonymous to expressing our feelings for others and ourselves. By simple words of love and praise, we not only make others feel good, but we also feel a lot better of ourselves and our lives. Gratitude is about feeling the right way, about the right things, and at the right time. It is inseparably linked with self-discipline and motivation.

It may not give us instant relief from pain and stress, but it brings the feeling of control back to us.

By acknowledging and appreciating our assets, gratitude gives us the charge of our own lives. As Robin Sharma has beautifully put it:

“Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness boosts productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. And mastery inspires the world”.

For further reading:

The Gratitude Tree for Kids (Incl. Activities + Drawings)

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Gratitude Exercises for free.

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About the author

Madhuleena Roy Chowdhury holds a postgrad in clinical psychology and is a certified psychiatric counselor. She specialized in optimizing mental health and is an experienced teacher and school counselor. She loves to help others through her work as a researcher, writer, and blogger and reach as many as possible.

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Melinda Petersen

on June 12, 2023 at 15:00

Very powerful and great methods that you can use in your daily life

on March 2, 2023 at 14:58

Thank u. great wisdom. Deep gratitude

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What is gratitude?

Benefits of practicing gratitude

Obstacles to feeling gratitude

Tips on cultivating gratitude

Well-being & Happiness

Gratitude: The Benefits and How to Practice It

While it’s not always easy, being grateful for the positives in life can have a profound impact on your mood, outlook, and overall well-being. Here’s how to increase your gratefulness.

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What is gratitude?

Benefits of practicing gratitude

Obstacles to feeling gratitude

Tips on cultivating gratitude

What is gratitude?

Gratitude involves showing appreciation for the things in life that are meaningful or valuable to you. Taking a moment to notice and acknowledge the things you’re grateful for each day can brighten your outlook, boost your mood, and help you feel more positive in the face of challenges.

While it’s easy to feel a rush of joy after winning the lottery or receiving a big promotion at work, gratitude extends to the smaller blessings in life that are often overlooked or taken for granted. Even the smallest moments, such as a brief chat with a friend, a kind gesture from a stranger, a cool breeze on a hot day, or a peaceful stroll in nature, are things that you can be thankful for.

Whatever your circumstances in life, you may find that consistently showing gratitude can be surprisingly difficult. Many of us get caught up in a negativity bias, where we linger on bad news and unpleasant experiences, yet allow moments of positivity to fade into the background.

Maybe you spend so much time dreading work on Monday that you don’t take time to fully appreciate the weekend. Or perhaps you’re so focused on your own verbal slip-up at a party that you don’t register a compliment from a friend. And if you have a mood disorder such as depression, being able to see any positives or express gratitude can seem impossible.

Fortunately, gratitude is like a muscle that you can build. With the right exercises and practice, you can find at least something small to appreciate in even the bleakest day. The idea of cultivating gratitude might sound cheesy, but research has shown that it can have very real benefits. With these tips, you can use gratitude to uplift your mood, find respite from negativity, foster stronger relationships, and even change the way you view yourself.

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Benefits of practicing gratitude

A little gratitude can do wonders for your mood. When you practice gratitude, you shift your thoughts away from negative emotions and uncomfortable sensations. Instead, you begin to focus on good things that you may have overlooked.

Rather than focusing on the misfortune of having a flat tire, for example, you consider how your job has made it possible to pay for repairs. Or you shift your focus to how fortunate you are to have close friends who are willing to drive you home.

This kind of thinking leads to a release of serotonin and dopamine, chemicals in the brain that are associated with happiness and pleasure. Acknowledging gratitude also decreases stress hormones. The short-term result is a reduction in anxiety and an improvement in mood. In the long-term, regularly practicing gratitude may also lead to lasting changes in your brain, priming you to be more grateful going forward.

Because gratitude can boost your mood, perhaps it's no surprise that it can also improve your overall mental health. As you practice gratitude, you may notice a decrease in symptoms of depression and anxiety. While gratitude alone may not be a magic bullet to mental health issues, it can be one part of a broader treatment plan.

Approaching life with a more positive mindset can do more than just improve your mood. It can have cascading benefits in other areas of your life, such as:

Better sleep. Some research links increased gratitude with higher quality sleep and fewer sleep disturbances. This might be because expressing gratitude right before bed allows you to fall asleep with a more positive outlook.

Improved focus. Gratitude might make it easier for you to focus. If you begin to view the task in front of you — whether it’s schoolwork or job duties — in a more positive light, you spend less energy feeling stressed about it. You might even begin to view challenges, such as an upcoming exam, as opportunities rather than hurdles. This can improve your emotional resiliency.

Higher self-esteem. Viewing the world with a sense of gratitude can change the way you think about your own worth. Imagine that a friend treats you to lunch. As you express your appreciation, you also begin to realize that your friend is spending time and resources on you because they value you. You then internalize the thought that you’re important to others.

Increased patience. The results of 2016 research seemed to indicate that people who regularly express gratitude are more patient. So, if you want to increase self-control and reduce impulsiveness, try practicing gratitude. Other research shows a potential connection between gratitude and other virtues, such as humility and wisdom.

Social benefits

Gratitude has the potential to enhance the quality of your relationships. Expressing your appreciation for a friend or family member shows them that you care and opens the door for more positive interactions in the future. For example, if you tell your friend that you appreciate them offering you a shoulder to lean on in tough times, your friend will recognize their importance and continue to be there for you. You may also feel compelled to reciprocate their acts of kindness.

[Read: Social Support for Stress Relief]

Gratitude can have social benefits that extend beyond your relationships with loved ones. Research shows that being on the receiving end of gratitude can lead even acquaintances to be more helpful and generous. Try telling coworkers or neighbors how much you appreciate them. You could create a chain reaction of prosocial behavior that enhances your workplace or community.

Physical health benefits

Gratitude can also come with plenty of physical benefits as well. For example, as your gratefulness reduces your stress and brings you closer to loved ones, you may see a decrease in your blood pressure and levels of inflammation. This can give way to better overall cardiovascular health.

Research also shows that grateful people are more likely to engage in healthy behaviors, such as exercising regularly and following a healthy diet. This may be because they’re able reframe healthy lifestyle choices as opportunities rather than obstacles.

Obstacles to feeling gratitude

For some people, gratitude seems to come naturally. You might already have a grateful disposition, which leads you to look for and cherish the good in life. On the other hand, certain personality traits and mood disorders can act as barriers to being able to acknowledge and express gratitude.

Here are a few factors that can fuel your negativity bias:

Envy. If you desire another person's traits or possessions, you may feel unhappy if a friend has found more success in dating or bitter that a coworker received a promotion you believe you deserve. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in envy that you overlook your own fortunes.

Materialism. If you’re materialistic, you hold the belief that having more possessions will eventually lead to happiness. Maybe you believe that you need the latest gadgets to impress your friends or maintain a certain social status. Or perhaps you think that a large house and fancy car will make you happy. Rather than being grateful for what you have, you're always looking for new things to claim as your own.

Cynicism. If you're cynical, you tend to believe that people only act within their own self-interests. You might believe that someone gave you a gift just because they want a favor in return. This mindset makes it hard to feel gratitude toward other people.

Narcissism. People who are narcissistic tend to be self-centered and have an excessive need for admiration. Narcissists also tend to have a sense of entitlement. They're prone to overlooking gifts and good fortune because they expect favorable treatment.

Stress. The general stressors of everyday life can loom so large that you have a hard time seeing the blessings around you. You might want to feel grateful for having a place to live, but the stress of keeping up with bills is always at the forefront of your mind.

Depression. Depression is more complicated than just feeling sad. It can involve a deep sense of despair and hopelessness that leaves you feeling fatigued, isolated, and empty. You might imagine it as a veil that obscures all the positive aspects of your life.

[Read: Coping with Depression]

Factors like envy and materialism can lead you to take things for granted. But if you can acknowledge the good in your own life—whether it's a roof over your head, reliable friends, or good health—you can avoid comparing your own life to other people's lives.

If you're feeling stressed or depressed, positivity is often hard to come by. However, even on the worst days, if you look hard enough you can usually find at least one thing to be grateful about. Keep an eye out for small moments of pleasure—the smell of good food, playtime with a pet, or a catchy tune on the radio. Noticing even the tiniest glimmers of positivity can make a big difference in your day.

Tips on cultivating gratitude

Cultivating gratitude isn’t a complicated endeavor, but it does require effort and a commitment to change. The following exercises can help you take on a grateful outlook, especially if you’re dealing with the roadblocks such as depression, stress, or envy.

Practice mindfulness

Remembering to slow down and savor little moments in your life can be a way to cultivate gratitude. Tap into your senses and let your mind linger on pleasant, everyday sensations. Focus on the taste of a ripe strawberry, for example, the feeling of the sun on your skin, or the gentle sound of background music. This can help ground you in the present, pulling you away from rumination and worrying.

[Read: Benefits of Mindfulness]

If you find yourself focusing on the same thing every day, try to home in on different aspects that you appreciate. For example, if you take a walk in the same stretch of the park every day, you might choose to focus on the pleasant sounds of nature one day and the sights the next day.

You can also use more structured meditation practices to tap into mindfulness. Set aside some time to listen to HelpGuide’s guided audio mediation, Gratitude in Difficult Times. The meditation guides you through a calming exercise that incorporates both mindfulness and gratitude.

Keep a gratitude journal

There are many ways to create a gratitude journal. First, decide if you want to keep a physical journal that you write in or a digital list on your phone or computer. Then, consider how often you’ll update the journal. You can update the journal on a weekly basis, ending the week by jotting down three or four moments that you appreciated.

Many people find it beneficial to make a habit of writing down several things that you're grateful for before bed. However, don’t journal so often that the practice begins to feel like a chore. Aim to be consistent and work on your journal at the same time each day or week.

The subjects you write about can include events, people, and general experiences. Try to go beyond just listing the most significant moments and accomplishments. Acknowledge the small but unexpected gifts, such as quick chats with friendly strangers, as well as the pleasant but routine moments, like a relaxing bike ride after work. If you have time, go into detail. What did the stranger say that lifted your mood? How did it feel to ride your bike and arrive safely home?

Here are a few prompts that can help you get started with your journal:

What were some pleasant sensations you experienced today?

Were there moments that made you smile or laugh or boosted your mood?

Who did you enjoy spending time with and why?

Write notes of appreciation

Build relationships by writing thank-you letters to people in your life. Go into detail about treasured memories from your relationship, including the seemingly insignificant interactions and moments of lightheartedness they may have forgotten about. Write about the positive effect they’ve had on your life. When you’re done, you can mail or deliver the letters in person. If you’re comfortable enough, you can even read a letter to your loved one.

If writing letters isn’t for you, take a more straightforward route. Make a conscious effort to verbally let friends and family members know that you appreciate them. You can set a goal of expressing gratitude to one person each day or week. What have they said or done that has made your life better? Do they have a sense of humor that brightens your day? Or maybe they’re a thoughtful person who is always willing to lend a hand.

Revisit and reframe past events

Most of us can recall past events that we regret. It could be anything from failing to study for an important test to lashing out at a close friend. Or maybe you regret a poor financial decision or a missed opportunity in dating. Although they may have led to disappointment, shame, or even heartbreak, you’ve likely also learned something from these experiences.

How did they contribute to your growth? Did they make you more cautious, assertive, or compassionate? By finding lessons within the tough experiences in life, you can cultivate more gratitude. You can even consider combining this with the journaling exercise. Come up with a list of past misfortunes and the lessons you’ve learned from each.

While these gratitude exercises can give your mood and outlook a welcome boost, it can take time for them to impact your mental health and overall well-being. Be patient and continue practicing gratitude. Turn the exercises into little rituals. In time, you may notice your stress levels drop and relationships strengthen. Then, you’ll have even more reasons to be grateful.

Last updated or reviewed on February 5, 2024

More Information

Helpful links

Your 5-day gratitude challenge: 5 exercises to increase your gratefulness

- Series of challenges designed to cultivate gratitude. (Ted)

Podcast: Why Gratitude Works

- Long-running podcast that focuses on gratitude. (Greater Good Magazine, UC Berkeley)

Five Ways to Ease Your Envy

- How to disarm the green-eyed monster when it gets in the way of feeling grateful. (Greater Good Magazine, UC Berkeley)

Giving thanks can make you happier

- Thanksgiving season can actually lift the spirits, and it’s built right into the holiday — being grateful. (Harvard Health Publishing)

References

“The Science of Gratitude.” Accessed June 6, 2022.

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Fox, Glenn R., Jonas Kaplan, Hanna Damasio, and Antonio Damasio. “Neural Correlates of Gratitude.” Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2015).

Link

McCullough, M. E., E. L. Worthington, and K. C. Rachal. “Interpersonal Forgiving in Close Relationships.” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73, no. 2 (August 1997): 321–36.

Link

McCraty, Rollin, and Doc Childre. “The Grateful Heart: The Psychophysiology of Appreciation.” In The Psychology of Gratitude, 230–55. Series in Affective Science. New York, NY, US: Oxford University Press, 2004.

Link

Celano, Christopher M., Eleanor E. Beale, Scott R. Beach, Arianna M. Belcher, Laura Suarez, Shweta R. Motiwala, Parul U. Gandhi, et al. “Associations Between Psychological Constructs and Cardiac Biomarkers After Acute Coronary Syndrome.” Psychosomatic Medicine 79, no. 3 (April 2017): 318–26.

Link

https://www.apa.org. “A Grateful Heart Is a Healthier Heart.” Accessed June 6, 2022.

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Cousin, L., Redwine, L., Bricker, C., Kip, K., & Buck, H. (2021). Effect of gratitude on cardiovascular health outcomes: A state-of-the-science review. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 16(3), 348–355.

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Cregg, D. R., & Cheavens, J. S. (2021). Gratitude Interventions: Effective Self-help? A Meta-analysis of the Impact on Symptoms of Depression and Anxiety. Journal of Happiness Studies, 22(1), 413–445.

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Dickens, L., & DeSteno, D. (2016). The grateful are patient: Heightened daily gratitude is associated with attenuated temporal discounting. Emotion, 16(4), 421–425.

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“Cultivating Gratitude and Giving through Experiential Consumption. – PsycNET.” Accessed June 6, 2022.

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Vaish, Amrisha, Tobias Grossmann, and Amanda Woodward. “Not All Emotions Are Created Equal: The Negativity Bias in Social-Emotional Development.” Psychological Bulletin 134, no. 3 (May 2008): 383–403.

Link

Algoe, Sara B., Jonathan Haidt, and Shelly L. Gable. “Beyond Reciprocity: Gratitude and Relationships in Everyday Life.” Emotion (Washington, D.C.) 8, no. 3 (June 2008): 425–29.

Link

Wilson, J. T. (2016). Brightening the Mind: The Impact of Practicing Gratitude on Focus and Resilience in Learning. Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 16(4), 1–13.

Link

Wood, A. M., Joseph, S., Lloyd, J., & Atkins, S. (2009). Gratitude influences sleep through the mechanism of pre-sleep cognitions. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 66(1), 43–48.

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What is gratitude? 12 tips for how to start a gratitude practice

By Paulina Cal y Mayor Galindo

January 22, 2024

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Invest in yourself today

When was the last time you felt grateful for something? What was it? Why did you feel grateful? How did you express your gratitude?

More importantly, how did your gratitude affect other areas of your life? Did you feel a little extra bounce in your step? Were you happier? Did you have a more optimistic outlook toward the future?

Gratitude is a simple tool we all have at our disposal to improve our own well-being and that of others.

Gratitude turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity … it makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude is a conscious, positive emotion one can express when feeling thankful for something, whether tangible or intangible.

From the time we are little, we are asked to thank others when they give us a gift or extend a nice gesture. We learn to thank automatically and as a social rule. But, how many times do we extend thanks for the little good things that happen to us daily? Do we really know how to be grateful?

We have all heard or read many definitions of gratitude, but experiencing gratitude at its core requires a conscious effort. How many times do we say 'thank you' without taking a moment to actually feel thankful?

An effective gratitude practice involves much more than showing good manners. It’s a practice that requires acknowledging someone else's gesture towards us or the big and little things that are going well in our lives. It involves both a process of recognition of the positive and its outcome, through easy and hard times.

Benefits of gratitude for mental health and beyond

Regularly practicing and expressing gratitude has many benefits, both short- and long-term.

Psychologists have highly researched gratitude and find it to be among the main focuses of positive psychology. Evidence suggests that people who consciously count their blessings tend to be happier and less depressed. But how?

Gratitude changes our brains

Research has found that more grateful people have more brain activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, the area associated with learning and decision-making. This brain activity persisted a month later, suggesting that gratitude has long-lasting effects.

Gratitude can overpower negative emotions

Feeling grateful boosts positive emotions like joy and compassion while encouraging us to look for and connect with what’s good in life. This helps us switch our attention from toxic emotions, such as resentment and envy.

Gratitude builds over time

A continued gratitude practice starts having long-lasting effects on mood, self-esteem, and behavior, which can snowball over time. Grabbind a piece of paper and writing a short and simple gratitude list each day or two can have compoundable benefits.

Gratitude can help combat depression

A study showed that a single thoughtful appreciation leads to an immediate 10 percent increase in happiness and a 35 percent reduction in depressive symptoms. When gratitude rituals become habits, they can help prevent anxiety and depression.

Gratitude boosts our optimism

According to research by Dr. Robert Emmons and Dr. Michael E. McCullough, people who write a few sentences each week focusing on gratitude felt more optimistic.

It improves our health

Expressing gratitude in everyday life actually has physical health benefits. Besides reducing and countering negative emotions, practicing gratitude is linked to other healthy behaviors, such as working out. Research has also associated gratitude with more robust immune systems, fewer aches and pains, lower blood pressure, and a deeper, more restoring sleep.

It leads to stronger relationships and communities

A regular gratitude practice can support the greater good outside of ourselves. Through gratitude, we increase our capacity for forgiveness, become more likely to help others, and develop compassion for others. This can extend to friends, loved ones, coworkers, and even strangers.

Researchers at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania found that workers were 50 percent more efficient when they had managers who actively expressed gratitude.

Similar research by psychologists Adam Grant and Francesca Gino found that receiving thanks for good performance made team members feel a strong sense of self-worth and confidence. It also led to an increase in trust and initiative to help one another.

It can lead to positive actions

Whether expressing thankfulness or boosting our motivation to help others, a grateful attitude has been shown to increase our likelihood of spreading the encouragement and joy it generates in us. Research suggests gratitude may also play a role in motivating individuals to engage in positive behaviors leading to self-improvement.

This can positively affect us on two levels. First, when we have a grateful mindset, we tend to involve ourselves in other practices that improve our well-being, such as meditation, sports, and recognizing our strengths. Second, an attitude of gratitude can inspire random acts of kindness toward others.

Also, research carried out by Frederickson showed that gratitude, when expressed effectively, increases the probability of the recipient to lend favor to a third party, effectively expanding a network of good.

10 tips to start a daily gratitude practice

Starting a daily gratitude practice can have positive effects on your well-being. It might sound overwhelming, but short and simple gratitude exercises can be plugged into most days. Here are 10 tips to help you begin:

Set a time: Choose a specific time each day to practice gratitude. It could be in the morning, before bed, or during a break.

Create a routine: Establish a routine around your gratitude practice. This could involve sitting quietly, journaling, or incorporating it into an existing routine.

Choose a medium: Decide how you want to express your gratitude. You can write in a gratitude journal, create a gratitude jar, or use a gratitude app.

Start small: Begin with a few things you're grateful for each day. They can be simple, like a good cup of coffee or a kind interaction.

Reflect on challenges: Consider challenges you faced during the day and find something positive within them. This can shift your perspective.

Express sincere thanks: Take a moment to express genuine thanks to the people around you. It could be a friend, family member, or colleague.

Mindful moments: Integrate mindfulness into your practice. Take a moment to fully experience the sensations associated with what you're grateful for.

Mix it up: Vary your expressions of gratitude. Some days you might write, while other days you could create a mental list or even draw.

Share gratitude: Share your gratitude practice with others. This could be through conversations or by expressing appreciation directly to someone.

Be consistent: Consistency is key. Make gratitude a daily habit to experience its full benefits.

Tame your inner critic: Understand how your inner critic affects gratitude. Taming it means being aware and kind to yourself. Identify and name self-critical thoughts to create space and weaken their impact. This helps because a loud inner critic can make it hard to feel grateful.

Embrace self-compassion: Make your gratitude journey better by adding self-compassion. Know that gratitude can mix with self-criticism or fear. Follow Kristin Neff's ideas—be kind to yourself, remember we're all in this together, and stay mindful. Combining self-compassion with gratitude makes you more caring towards yourself and others when facing life's ups and downs.

If the pressure of writing a gratitude letter every day is too stressful, choose a different method or cadence to get started. Building any good habit takes time and can feel awkward to begin with so remember to be kind and patient with yourself.

12 ways to practice gratitude

Like any skill, gratitude can be learned and strengthened. Here are some ideas for how to practice gratitude in your own life and improve your overall life satisfaction.

Daily gratitude reflection: Reflect on three daily blessings for at least ten minutes. Therapists recommend this practice for mood improvement and better sleep. Write them down to reinforce positivity, enhancing your well-being.

Gratitude Journaling: Use a gratitude journal for self-therapy. Activate different brain areas, promoting resilience, forgiveness, and detachment. Reading your expressions of gratitude provides comfort during tough times.

Expressive thanks weekly: Consciously express gratitude to someone new weekly. Move beyond routine thank-yous with thoughtful gestures, strengthening connections and fostering deeper appreciation.

Gratitude meditation: Dive deep into gratitude through guided meditation, promoting acceptance, detachment, and forgiveness. Visualize specific situations, allowing gratitude to grow stronger.

Focus on others' intentions: When receiving a gift, focus on the giver's positive intentions. Visualize their willingness to bring happiness or support in challenging moments, deepening gratitude and interpersonal connections.

Acts of kindness: Show gratitude through actions. Perform small acts of kindness for others without expecting anything in return. It could be helping a colleague with a task, offering a seat to someone in need, or doing a favor for a friend.

Gratitude letter: Take the time to write a heartfelt gratitude letter to someone who has positively impacted your life. Express your appreciation for their actions, kindness, or support.

Create a gratitude collage: Use visual elements to express gratitude. Create a collage with images and words that represent things you're thankful for. This can be a creative and visually impactful way to remind yourself of the positive aspects of your life.

Mindful eating: Practice gratitude during meals. This is one simple way to incorporate gratitude into your daily life. Take a moment to appreciate the flavors, textures, and nourishment provided by the food you eat. This mindful approach to eating can turn a routine activity into a gratitude practice.

Volunteer or donate: Give back to the community or a cause you care about. Volunteering your time or making charitable donations can be a powerful way to express gratitude for the privileges and resources you have.

Express gratitude in the moment: Instead of waiting to reflect on gratitude at the end of the day, express it in the moment. When something positive happens or someone does something kind, acknowledge and express your gratitude immediately.

Mindful breathing: Develop a sense of gratitude with mindfulness practices like deep breathing. As you inhale and exhale, focus on the things you're grateful for. This can help create a sense of calm and appreciation in the present moment.

Is gratitude an emotion or a feeling?

We can feel, be, and act grateful. So the easy answer is that gratitude is both an emotion and a feeling. As with other emotions, gratitude can also become a trait. When it describes someone who is always grateful, it becomes an adjective, which means that the person is often feeling and expressing this state.

As a state, gratitude is experienced as a complex emotion, which implies that it involves our thoughts of gratefulness. For instance, “What a nice gesture,” or “I am so lucky to have someone like you.”

And finally, emotion can also be experienced as a feeling. Feelings tend to be a less complicated form of state. The big difference depends on the author, but a way of seeing it would be as a less intense and more momentary state.

At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.

Potential challenges in gratitude practices

Gratitude, while recognized for its positive impact, comes with its set of challenges that individuals may encounter in their practices.

Introduction to "Gratitude Bypassing"

When we look at the science of gratitude, one challenge is the phenomenon known as "gratitude bypassing," where individuals use gratitude to avoid confronting real challenges. This can manifest as a tendency to focus on the expectation of feeling grateful rather than addressing underlying issues.

Unintended Consequences of Gratitude

Despite its benefits, practicing gratitude can sometimes lead to unintended consequences. A case in point is the experience of impending doom. Individuals may paradoxically feel a sense of impending negativity as they genuinely recognize and express gratitude for the positive aspects of their lives.

Positive and Negative Internal Experiences

The internal experience of gratitude can vary widely. A positive experience involves a genuine acknowledgment of blessings, resulting in elevated mood, deeper breathing, and a sense of internal spaciousness. On the contrary, negative experiences may include forced or robotic feelings of gratitude, guilt associated with counting blessings, a sense of constriction, feelings of separation rather than connection, and a shift towards negative thoughts.

Navigating these internal experiences is crucial for ensuring that gratitude practices contribute positively to well-being rather than inadvertently triggering negative emotions. Recognizing and addressing these challenges opens the door to a more nuanced and authentic gratitude practice.

Recognizing the Need for Self-Compassion in Gratitude Practices

As individuals engage in gratitude practices, they may encounter challenges such as self-criticism and aversion to vulnerability. The need for self-compassion becomes apparent, recognizing that the way gratitude is experienced can be influenced by internal struggles.

When the self-critic is particularly loud or acknowledging life's blessings triggers a fear of loss, these are signals that additional psychological resources are required. The acknowledgment of these challenges prompts a shift toward self-compassion, a vital component to ensure that gratitude practices contribute positively to well-being.

Final thoughts on gratitude

Gratitude is, without question, a great emotion to cultivate. Hopefully, we can make it a habit that translates into a trait. Don't forget that practice and patience are key ingredients to our purposes and intentions. Start your practice today.

Well-being

Published January 22, 2024

Paulina Cal y Mayor Galindo BetterUp Fellow Coach

Gratitude Definition | What Is Gratitude

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Gratitude

Defined

What Is Gratitude?

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What Is Gratitude?

Robert Emmons, perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, “Why Gratitude Is Good.”

“First,” he writes, “it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”

In the second part of gratitude, he explains, “we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”

Emmons and other researchers see the social dimension as being especially important to gratitude. “I see it as a relationship-strengthening emotion,“ writes Emmons, “because it requires us to see how we’ve been supported and affirmed by other people.”

Because gratitude encourages us not only to appreciate gifts but to repay them (or pay them forward), the sociologist Georg Simmel called it “the moral memory of mankind.” This is how gratitude may have evolved: by strengthening bonds between members of the same species who mutually helped each other out.

To investigate how gratitude relates to bonding and empathy, pioneering research is exploring what gratitude looks like in the brain.

For more: Read The Gratitude Project, a new book by the GGSC, to learn how gratitude can lead to a better life and a better world. Get an in-depth overview of where gratitude comes from, what its benefits are, and how to cultivate it in our special white paper on the science of gratitude. Also check out the GGSC’s Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude project.

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Most of the time, gratitude is good. But research finds that there are situations when…

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How Gratitude Makes You Happier

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How to Make Gratitude a Daily Habit

It’s easy to focus on what we want rather than what we have. But when we shift our awareness to the present moment, we begin finding moments of gratitude in everyday life.

By Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp

November 1, 2021

Compassion

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We tend to talk about gratitude as a way of expressing thanks—thanks for a meal, an event, or an act of kindness. Following the lead of researchers in the field of positive psychology, the definition of gratitude is a little more broad. We define gratitude as the conscious appreciation of any aspect of our life experience. Sonja Lyubomirsky, on the other hand, offers a more poetic description:

“It is wonder; it is appreciation; it is looking at the bright side of a setback; it is fathoming abundance; it is thanking someone in your life…it is “counting blessings.” It is savoring; it is not taking things for granted; it is coping; it is present-oriented.”

Gratitude is one of the easiest ways to shift our set-point-driven state of mind. Fifteen seconds of savoring something you are grateful for can be transformative. It can broaden your perspective on life, turn problems into possibilities and irritation into curiosity. The challenge and real benefit comes from training the skill to become second nature so that you naturally savor gratitude throughout the day.

Jack, a former family business owner and executive coach describes a lifelong negative pattern of behaviour that changed when he developed a daily habit of gratitude:

“I used to focus on the “specks on the wall” of my life. Things that I didn’t have (cooler job, bigger house) or wanted more of (money, power). I was keeping score in a game that didn’t add up to what I really valued in life—my family, close connections with friends, and a job that was aligned with my purpose. I began to notice how often I focused on mostly the negative stuff. I developed a daily habit of gratitude and started keeping a gratitude journal. Now, when I begin to think about the specks, I shift to gratitude, and it completely changes my day. My best move, though, is to extend the feeling of gratitude and savor these moments by closing my eyes and taking a deep breath. It has transformed my life.”

We all have our own version of Jack’s “specks on the wall.” Without gratitude, we focus on life’s imperfections; in fact they often become all that we can see. Gratitude gives us a wider perspective. We may still see the imperfections but we also recognize the blessings that surround them.

Ram Dass, a former Harvard psychologist and an acclaimed spiritual teacher, uses the analogy of a picture of the sky to illustrate this shift in perspective. According to Dass, if you have a photograph of the sky that is zoomed in on a small gray cloud, that’s all you can see. Everything looks dark and colorless. But if you zoom out and see the sky from a larger perspective, you begin to see that the cloud is surrounded by blue sky. That’s the kind of shift in perspective that you can access through gratitude.

Gratitude and the Brain

Thanks to advances in neuroscience and positive psychology, we now have the scientific evidence to show that practicing gratitude holds a wide range of benefits in regards to your emotional and physical well-being. Gratitude diminishes anxiety, depression, and other signs of psychological unease while simultaneously cultivating appreciation and contentment.

How does gratitude work? Well, according to Rick Hanson, an expert on positive neuroplasticity, the brain is “like Velcro for negative experiences and Teflon for positive ones.” Traumatic experiences—car accidents, heartbreak, or intense fear—carve deep grooves in the neural structures of the brain.

The brain’s Velcro-like attachment to bad experiences reinforces the negativity bias of the brain. It ensures that we spend the bulk of our mental energy ruminating on regrets, resentments, and fears, rather than contemplating moments of bliss and elation. Recent research, however, has echoed the fact that gratitude can serve as an antidote to this negative spiral. Even though our brains are naturally attracted to negative memories, gratitude allows us to amplify the positive—to create more powerful and vivid memories and, in turn, a lasting change to the brain.

If you feel frustration while sitting in traffic, gratitude can help broaden your experience. You can begin to notice the changing leaves on the trees, relax into your breath, or use the delay as an opportunity to really listen to your favorite music or audiobook.

In fact, research conducted by Barbara Fredrickson, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina, has shown that gratitude “broadens and builds” the brain’s capacity to overcome negative emotional states. In the absence of gratitude, the mind closes in on a small handful of possibilities. Gratitude expands the field by “widening the array of thoughts and actions that come to mind.” For example, if you feel frustration while sitting in traffic, gratitude can help broaden your experience. You can begin to notice the changing leaves on the trees, relax into your breath, or use the delay as an opportunity to really listen to your favorite music or audiobook.

This shift isn’t merely psychological. Evidence from neuroscience suggests that the effects of this practice extends deep into the neural pathways of the brain. Dr. Richie Davidson, neuroscience researcher, notes, “From everything we know about the brain circuitry underlying these components it’s a good bet that well-being therapy [the expression of gratitude for self and others] strengthens the prefrontal cortex.”

4 Ways Gratitude Contributes to Well-Being

As psychologists continue to explore the casual mechanisms behind gratitude, one thing is clear. Gratitude offers extensive benefits of well-being, including:

Increased optimism. Research demonstrates that the practice correlates to an increase in the experience of positive emotions and reduction of negative ones.Reduced stress and anxiety in times of crisis. In studies following the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and elsewhere, Fredrickson found that the practice of gratitude diminished the intensity and frequency of traumatic memories.Enhanced physical health. Gratitude helps lower blood pressure and the quality of our sleep. Researchers have found that by practicing gratitude, we get more sleep, fall asleep more easily, and feel better when we wake up.Improved relationships. Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough theorize that gratitude within relationships can create a kind of “upward spiral.” As we become more grateful for our friends and family, we treat them with more kindness and respect.

A Daily Practice to Help Make Gratitude a Habit

The key to making gratitude a habit is simply taking the time—once a day—to focus on the experience of gratitude. You might do this by writing down three things that you are grateful for, or by expressing gratitude at the beginning of a meal.

Whichever technique you use, here are a few tips to help you make the most of this practice:

Get your friends and family involved. Have each person say what they are grateful for at the start of a meal. This will reinforce the experience and help everyone experience gratitude.

Remember to do it. Like all well-being habits, the most difficult part of the gratitude practice is remembering to do it. We recommend two strategies. First, as mentioned above, get your family and friends involved. When you sit down to eat, each of you will help one another remember. Second, you can use the sticker technique. Put a small sticker with “Gratitude” written on it in the upper corner of your place mat. This will give you a visual reminder each time you eat at home.

Don’t forget to rewire. It’s natural to experience gratitude in one instant and then move on to eating or whatever else you are doing in the next. Remember to introduce a subtle space after gratitude. For just 15 seconds, savor the experience.

How you know it’s working. In a few weeks or a month, when you sit down to eat, you will express and savor your gratitudes for the day automatically. You will also start to notice the experience of gratitude becoming more frequent in the rest of your life.

Find a cue that works for you. We strongly recommend meals because they often involve social situations in which you can share your gratitude practice with others. But if this cue doesn’t work for you, pick some other, regularly repeated daily event: waking up, going to bed, or starting your computer at the beginning of the day. The key is to keep your cue consistent.

Go deeper. If you have mastered the practice of expressing gratitude at each meal, then feel free to begin building the advanced cue into your daily life: for instance, phone calls. Whenever you receive a phone call, rather than picking it up immediately, listen to at least two rings while thinking of one thing you are grateful for, and then answer the call as you savor the experience. You will find this practice more difficult than it sounds. When you master it, it will enable you to enter each phone conversation with a feeling of deep appreciation.

Adapted from Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing by Eric Langshur and Nate Klemp, PhD.

Compassion

How to Practice Gratitude

Practicing gratitude has incredible effects, from improving our mental health to boosting our relationships with others. Explore ways you can be more appreciative in our mindful guide to gratitude.

Mindful Staff

September 21, 2023

The Brain

What Science Reveals About Gratitude’s Impact on the Brain

New research sheds light on the physiology of gratitude, bringing us closer to being able to understand and harness the health benefits of this powerful emotion.

Glenn Fox

June 10, 2019

Well-Being

Open Up to Gratitude

Explore these three mindfulness practices to connect with gratitude.

Amber Tucker

December 13, 2019

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Eric Langshur

Eric Langshur has been committed to health and wellbeing innovation for over fifteen years and today is an author, sought-after public speaker, entrepreneur and investor. Eric has dedicated his career to modeling a values-based leadership that leans on caring for people by investing in developing their potential. Eric is the co-author of The New York Times bestseller Start Here: Master the Lifelong Habit of Wellbeing.

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Nate Klemp, PhD, is coauthor of Open: Living with an Expansive Mind in a Distracted World. He is a former philosophy professor and a founding partner at Mindful. He is also coauthor of The 80/80 Marriage: A New Model for a Happier, Stronger Relationship and Start Here, a New York Times bestselling guide to mindfulness in the real world. Nate received his BA and MA from Stanford University, and his PhD from Princeton University. Find him on Instagram.

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What Is Gratitude and How Do You Practice It?

Sherri Gordon

Sherri Gordon, CLC is a certified professional life coach, author, and journalist covering health and wellness, social issues, parenting, and mental health. She also has a certificate of completion from Ohio State's Patient and Community Peer Review Academy where she frequently serves as a community reviewer for grant requests for health research.

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