Hello
When I run my wellbeing classes I often sideline from what I am supposed to be teaching to include some other evidenced-based ideas for wellbeing.
One of those is based around Gratitude. Now I don’t know if you are like me, if someone tells me to be grateful for what I have, or to look for what I can be thankful for, my first impulse is to want to punch them in the face. It seems such a tired and well-worn phrase, and sometimes, especially in times of crisis, we can feel that there is very little to be grateful for.
However, they may be right. In a series of studies gratitude is associated with happier individuals, and indeed measures of gratitude have been shown to be predictors of measures of 5 other areas of happiness including physical wellbeing and willingness to help others. That kind of seems obvious, after all wouldn’t happier individuals have more to be grateful for?
What is more surprising is that in several studies (by Robert Emmons – see https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1/) people were randomly assigned to groups that wrote a weekly list of either 5 things they were grateful for, 5 things that annoyed them, or 5 things they did that week. Those in the gratitude group showed an increase in their self-reported feelings of wellbeing, time spent in exercising, and in reports from their families on the amount of care the person showed to others. It seemed being grateful was not just associated with positive wellbeing; but could actually lead to it.
Further research by neuroscientists have shown that parts of the brain associated with altruism (the ventromedial prefrontal cortex if you really want to know) lit up on fMRI studies of people who were asked to list things they were grateful for. This happened even when people couldn’t actually find things they were grateful for. So even the act of looking for gratitude can make a person’s brain happier. It’s a bit like going in a very dusty loft to find something. You have a bit of a rummage, and no matter if you find what you were looking for, you will come out dusty. In the case of gratitude, the “dust” is actually an increase of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is one of the main chemicals that makes us feel happy (and in love!) and is often found in antidepressants.
So, give it a try – look for something to be grateful for. It could add some happy dust to your life, and lets be honest even if it doesn’t it can’t harm you and doesn’t cost anything.
That is something to be grateful for.
When I run my wellbeing classes I often sideline from what I am supposed to be teaching to include some other evidenced-based ideas for wellbeing.
One of those is based around Gratitude. Now I don’t know if you are like me, if someone tells me to be grateful for what I have, or to look for what I can be thankful for, my first impulse is to want to punch them in the face. It seems such a tired and well-worn phrase, and sometimes, especially in times of crisis, we can feel that there is very little to be grateful for.
However, they may be right. In a series of studies gratitude is associated with happier individuals, and indeed measures of gratitude have been shown to be predictors of measures of 5 other areas of happiness including physical wellbeing and willingness to help others. That kind of seems obvious, after all wouldn’t happier individuals have more to be grateful for?
What is more surprising is that in several studies (by Robert Emmons – see https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/ten_ways_to_become_more_grateful1/) people were randomly assigned to groups that wrote a weekly list of either 5 things they were grateful for, 5 things that annoyed them, or 5 things they did that week. Those in the gratitude group showed an increase in their self-reported feelings of wellbeing, time spent in exercising, and in reports from their families on the amount of care the person showed to others. It seemed being grateful was not just associated with positive wellbeing; but could actually lead to it.
Further research by neuroscientists have shown that parts of the brain associated with altruism (the ventromedial prefrontal cortex if you really want to know) lit up on fMRI studies of people who were asked to list things they were grateful for. This happened even when people couldn’t actually find things they were grateful for. So even the act of looking for gratitude can make a person’s brain happier. It’s a bit like going in a very dusty loft to find something. You have a bit of a rummage, and no matter if you find what you were looking for, you will come out dusty. In the case of gratitude, the “dust” is actually an increase of serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is one of the main chemicals that makes us feel happy (and in love!) and is often found in antidepressants.
So, give it a try – look for something to be grateful for. It could add some happy dust to your life, and lets be honest even if it doesn’t it can’t harm you and doesn’t cost anything.
That is something to be grateful for.