The Neuroscience of Gratitude and How It Impacts Anxiety and Grief
By Madhuleena Roy Chowdhury, BA
May 26, 2021
We all want a happy life. A comfortable job, a perfect family, financial stability, and an excellent social life! And in this endless pursuit of happiness, which often feels like a mirage, how often do we take a moment to appreciate what we already have right now?
Gratitude is a powerful human emotion. By sending and receiving simple messages of "thank you," we can truly find the pleasure we seek in all other places. Gratitude, derived from the Latin word "gratia," means thankfulness or appreciation.
In its simplest form, gratitude refers to a "state of thankfulness."
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgiving, turn routine jobs into joy, and transform ordinary opportunities into blessings."
– Proverb
In positive psychology, gratitude is the human way of recognizing the good things in life. Psychologists have defined gratitude as a positive emotional response we experience when giving or receiving a benefit from someone (Emmons and McCullough, 2004).
Emmons and McCullough provided a similar explanation, stating that:
"Gratitude is associated with a personal benefit that was not sought, deserved, or intentionally earned, but rather due to the good intentions of another person." (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).
Thanking others, thanking ourselves, Mother Nature, or the Almighty: gratitude in any form can brighten the mind and make us feel happier. It has a healing effect on us (Russell and Fosha, 2008). The benefits of gratitude are endless, and in this article, we will attempt to explore what gratitude is, discuss its scientific basis, and understand how we can use gratitude to become happier in life.
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 its forms, is associated with happiness. Whether we say "thank you" to someone or receive the same from others, the feeling it generates is one of pure satisfaction and encouragement. Expressions of gratitude help build and maintain long-term relationships, cope with adversity, and recover from it 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 multidimensional. Expressing gratitude not only to others but also to ourselves induces positive emotions, mainly happiness. By producing feelings of pleasure and satisfaction, gratitude also impacts our overall health and well-being.
In a survey on gratitude in adult professionals, British psychologist and well-being expert Robert Holden found that 65 out of 100 people chose happiness over health, although they indicated that both were equally important for a good life. In his study, Holden suggested that the root of many psychopathological conditions like depression, anxiety, and stress is unhappiness.
Simple practices like keeping a gratitude journal, congratulating ourselves, or sending small notes of thanks can make us feel much better and improve our mood immediately. Couple studies have also shown that couples who frequently express gratitude to each other are able to maintain their relationships with mutual trust, loyalty, and have long-lasting happy relationships.
Gratitude Improves Health:
Gratitude impacts both physical and mental well-being. Researchers in positive psychology and mental health over the past few decades have established an overwhelming connection between gratitude and good health. Keeping a gratitude journal results in less stress, improves sleep quality, and builds emotional awareness (Seligman, Steen, Park, & Peterson, 2005).
Gratitude positively correlates with more vitality, energy, and enthusiasm to work harder.
Gratitude Fosters Professional Commitment:
Grateful workers are more efficient, productive, and responsible. Expressing gratitude in the workplace is a proactive action to build interpersonal bonds and trigger feelings of closeness and attachment (Algoe, 2012).
Employees who practice expressing gratitude at work are more likely to volunteer for more assignments, are willing to go the extra mile to fulfill their tasks, and happily work as part of a team. Furthermore, managers and supervisors who feel grateful and remember to convey it have stronger group cohesion and better productivity.
They recognize good work, give everyone the importance they deserve in the group, and communicate actively with team members.
Gratitude makes a leader compassionate, considerate, empathetic, and loved by others.
NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH ON GRATITUDE:
"Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions." – Zig Ziglar
Gratitude was significant in ancient philosophies and cultures, such as in Roman culture, where Cicero mentioned gratitude as the "mother" of all human feelings. However, as a neuropsychological research area, it was an uncommon subject of concern until the last two decades (Emmons & McCullough, 2004).
Gratitude and the Brain:
The neural mechanisms responsible for feelings of gratitude have garnered attention (Wood, Maltby, Stewart, Linley, & Joseph, 2008). Studies have shown that at the brain level, moral judgments involving feelings of gratitude are evoked in the right anterior temporal cortex (Zahn et al., 2009).
In the same study, it was revealed that the reason some of us are naturally more grateful than others is due to neurochemical differences in the Central Nervous System. People who express and feel gratitude have a higher volume of gray matter in the right inferior temporal gyrus (Zahn, Garrido, Moll, & Grafman, 2014).
Gratitude and Neurotransmitters:
Emily Fletcher, founder of Ziva, a well-known meditation training site, referred to gratitude in one of her posts as a "natural antidepressant." The effects of gratitude, when practiced daily, can be almost the same as those of medications. It produces a lasting sense of happiness and satisfaction, the physiological basis of which lies at the level of neurotransmitters.
When we express gratitude and receive the same, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, the two crucial neurotransmitters responsible for our emotions, making us feel "good." They immediately improve our mood, making us feel happy inside.
By consciously practicing gratitude every day, we can help these neural pathways strengthen and ultimately create a permanent positive and grateful nature within ourselves.
GRATITUDE AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY:
Gratitude has a social aspect that argues it is a socially-driven emotion. Social psychologists believe it is intertwined 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 aimed directly at building and maintaining social bonds (Algoe, Haidt, & Gable, 2008) and reinforcing 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 can be a gesture or a group of kind words that we give or receive from others. But these simple exchanges of thankfulness significantly affect our biological functioning, especially the brain and the nervous system. The effect of gratitude on the brain is long-lasting (Zahn et al., 2007).
In addition to improving self-love and empathy, gratitude has a significant impact on bodily functions and psychological conditions like stress, anxiety, and depression.
Gratitude frees us from toxic emotions:
The limbic system is the part of the brain responsible for all emotional experiences. It consists of the thalamus, hypothalamus, amygdala, hippocampus, and cingulate gyrus. Studies have shown that the hippocampus and amygdala, the two main sites that regulate emotions, memory, and bodily functions, are activated with feelings of gratitude.
There is consistent evidence that what we call “emotions” or “feelings” are neural activations in the neocortical regions of the brain (Moll et al., 2005). A study conducted on people seeking mental health guidance revealed that participants in the group who wrote thank-you letters in addition to their regular counseling sessions felt better and recovered sooner.
The other group in the study, who were asked to write in a journal about their negative experiences instead of writing thank-you letters, reported feelings of anxiety and depression.
Gratitude reduces pain:
Counting Blessings vs. Burdens (Emmons & McCullough, 2003), a study conducted to evaluate the effect of gratitude on physical well-being, indicated that 16% of patients who kept a gratitude journal reported a reduction in pain symptoms and were more willing to exercise and cooperate with the treatment procedure. A deeper inquiry into the cause revealed that by regulating dopamine levels, gratitude fills us with more vitality, thus reducing subjective sensations of pain.
Gratitude improves sleep quality:
Studies have shown that receiving and displaying simple acts of kindness activate the hypothalamus and, therefore, regulate all bodily mechanisms controlled by the hypothalamus, among which sleep is a vital one.
The hypothalamic regulation triggered by gratitude helps us achieve deeper and healthier sleep naturally every night. A brain filled with gratitude and kindness is more likely to sleep better and wake up feeling renewed and full of energy each morning (Zahn et al., 2009).
Gratitude helps regulate stress:
McCraty and his colleagues (cited in McCraty & Childre, 2004), in one of their studies on gratitude and recognition, found that participants who felt grateful showed a marked reduction in cortisol levels, the stress hormone. They had better heart function 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 manage stress better than others. Simply recognizing and appreciating the small things in life can rewire the brain to handle present circumstances with more awareness and a broader perspective.
Gratitude reduces anxiety and depression:
By reducing stress hormones and controlling the functions of the autonomic nervous system, gratitude significantly reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety. On a neurochemical level, feelings of gratitude are associated with an increase in neuronal modulation of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain responsible for managing negative emotions like guilt, shame, and violence.
As a result, people who keep a gratitude journal or use verbal expressions of thanks are naturally more empathetic and have a positive mindset.
DOES GRATITUDE CHANGE THE BRAIN?
The Mindfulness Awareness Research Center at UCLA stated that gratitude changes the neural structures of the brain and makes us feel happier and more content. Feeling grateful and valuing and recognizing others when they do something good for us activates the "good" hormones and regulates the effective functioning of the immune system.
Scientists have suggested that by activating the brain’s reward center, the exchange of gratitude 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 automatically redirects attention to what we have, which produces intrinsic motivation and a strong awareness of the present moment. Additionally, on a neurochemical level, gratitude acts as a catalyst for neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which control our emotions, anxiety, and immediate responses to stress.
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 have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
Grateful people can derive more happiness and pleasure from daily life. As G.K. Chesterton mentioned in his famous agricultural metaphor, the pursuit of true happiness is very much like planting crops. We will not obtain the desired result unless we properly nurture the seeds (Chesterton, 1986). The effects of practicing gratitude are not immediate and don’t appear by magic.
But once it starts, gratitude continues to impact our physical and psychological well-being for years.
We know how to experience and express gratitude. Sometimes, all we need is a little nudge or reminder of how powerful and vital gratitude exercises can be. 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 for people who meant a lot to them, such as teachers, spouses, or friends. These notes weren’t just small papers that said "thank you." They had to be more detailed and profound. Surprisingly, participants were able to complete writing long thank-you notes in less than five minutes and reported feelings of satisfaction after doing so.
CULTIVATING HAPPINESS AND JOY WITH GRATITUDE:
Unhappy people rely more on their weaknesses and struggle with their own identity. We must stop doubting ourselves and begin celebrating our accomplishments. Wondering how? Here are some simple tricks that can help you.
Acknowledge Yourself
Stand in front of your mirror and say five good things to yourself. These can be about your past achievements, current efforts, talents, and virtues. Just say the words out loud. Compliment yourself with words like beautiful, loyal, disciplined, kind, loving, etc., and notice if it makes you feel better. Repeat this as often as you like and record your experience.
Gratitude Journal
You may have heard about this before. A gratitude journal is your personal space to write down all the big and small things in life that you are thankful for. Your gratitude journal can fit into your "dear diary," your daily planner, or your online notepad. As you sit down to express gratitude, you will consciously choose to focus on the good memories, and you might even remember some long-forgotten happy moments.
There is power in words, so don't overlook the little things, no matter how insignificant they may seem. A gratitude journal might include something like:
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Compliments I would like to give myself today:
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Current challenges and what I am learning from them:
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People I am thankful for:
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Important assets in my life today:
Gratitude Visits
We all have someone whose support and unconditional help meant a lot to us. We feel like we "owe" them our happiness and success. If you have someone like this, it could be your friend, family, or a professional partner, meet with them once or twice a month.
Make the plan, go, and express your gratitude once again, allowing the person to feel important. Share good memories and offer your support. In most cases, gratitude visits instantly bring a feeling of holiness and positivity.
Don’t Hesitate to Be Happy
If you feel happy, don’t hold back. Remember that you’ve worked hard to achieve it, and you truly deserve it. Whether it's a major achievement or a small success, recognize your joy and be thankful for the moment. Accepting happiness makes us stronger and more grateful for what we have. Let’s learn to praise our efforts and better prepare ourselves to face difficulties in the future.
Find a Gratitude Friend
Find a gratitude partner for your daily practice; it could be your spouse, child, or a coworker. Set aside a few minutes every day for both of you (or more if you have more friends) to sit together and discuss the things you’re grateful for. Ask each other questions and open up informally. Sharing gratitude thoughts with someone is a great way to keep motivation high and strengthen your emotional skills.
ANXIETY AND GRATITUDE:
Anxiety is the built-in alarm of our body that alerts us to danger. When fear arises, our body releases hormones that trigger the fight-or-flight response, and we react in kind. The brain doesn’t have much time to analyze what’s right or wrong when adrenaline kicks in. The worst result of anxiety is that it makes us feel insecure, and we begin to question our inner strengths. Eventually, our coping mechanisms start to fail.
In the book Grateful Brain, author Alex Korb (2012) stated that our brain is conditioned to operate repeatedly. For example, a person who worries excessively about negative outcomes will unknowingly reprogram their brain to process only negative information. Korb has mentioned that our mind cannot focus on both positive and negative information simultaneously.
By consciously practicing gratitude, we can train the brain to selectively pay attention to positive emotions and thoughts, thus reducing anxiety and feelings of apprehension.
RECENT STUDIES ON GRATITUDE AND ANXIETY:
These findings gained stronger validation after a recent study conducted on the relationship between gratitude and death anxiety (Lau & Cheng, 2011).
The experiment was carried out on 83 Chinese adults over the age of 60, who were divided into three groups. One group was asked to write thank-you notes and positive words, another group was asked to write about their concerns, and the third group was assigned a neutral task.
After completing the task, the groups were exposed to stimuli that triggered death anxiety, the inevitable fear we all experience.
The results showed that participants in the first group, who wrote thank-you notes, showed fewer symptoms of death anxiety than the other two groups. A reexamination of the results revealed that with a grateful attitude in life, we gain acceptance and become brave in facing the future.
On a neurobiological level, gratitude regulates the sympathetic nervous system, which activates our anxiety responses, and on a psychological level, it conditions the brain to filter out negative thoughts and focus on positive ones.
Due to its implications in reducing anxiety, gratitude practices such as journaling and group discussions are now an important part of mental health interventions and coaching regimens.
Gratitude practices are especially effective in treating phobias such as death anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia, and nihilism.
GRATITUDE AND PAIN:
"Gratitude gives meaning to your past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." - Melody B.
As difficult as it may seem, grieving with gratitude can bring a ray of hope in the darkest moments of life. Finding a reason to be thankful on days of despair can seem impossible. In her book on gratitude and grief, Kelly Buckley (2017) mentioned how she found meaning in her pain and life after losing her 23-year-old son.
While it's true that practicing gratitude makes us resilient to negative emotions and distress, it cannot be denied that worldly misfortunes are inevitable and destined to affect our well-being.
GRIEF MANAGEMENT WITH GRATITUDE:
1. Cry with all your heart
Crying does not weaken us. Instead, it is an act of acceptance and awareness of our emotions. We cry because we know how we feel and why we feel that way. It releases pain and helps us take a step forward and change our lives.
2. Pick up the broken pieces
Grieving with gratitude allows us to appreciate the things we still have. For example, for a person who has just been fired from their job, thanking their family and friends, who stand by them during the crisis, can help reduce the pain. By consciously recognizing their love and support, they can feel grateful and regain the motivation to seek other job opportunities.
3. Ask for help
Don't hesitate to seek professional help when all your coping mechanisms fail. Studies have shown that people who practice gratitude are more willing to engage in counseling and therapy to manage their depression, and the prognosis is much brighter in such cases.
4. Keep a gratitude jar
Keep a glass jar or a clear box and some small pieces of paper nearby. Take a piece of paper every day and write one thing you're thankful for today. It could 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 fills up, you’ll naturally feel more blessed and hopeful.
The pain may still be there, but you will gain the strength to look beyond it.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RESILIENCE AND GRATITUDE:
Gratitude fosters coping mechanisms. By handling positive emotions such as satisfaction, happiness, and pleasure, gratitude enhances our emotional resilience and develops our inner strength to combat stress (Gloria & Steinhardt, 2016).
Psychologists Shai Davidai and Thomas Gilovich, in one of their articles, titled “Against the wind / For the wind: A Bias of Availability in Evaluating Barriers and Blessings” (2016), mentioned that we tend to focus more on life's obstacles and difficulties because they demand some action. We have to fight and overcome them to restore the normal flow of life.
On the other hand, we forget to pay attention to the better things in life because “they are already there,” and we don’t have to do anything to keep them with us. Practicing gratitude, according to Gilovich, is the best way to remind ourselves of the things that give us the courage to keep moving forward in life.
Studies on Gratitude and Resilience
A study published in the International Journal of Social Psychiatry found a strong positive correlation between gratitude, resilience, and feelings of happiness. The study was conducted on a large sample of the adult population, and statistical treatment showed that participants who felt more grateful and kept a gratitude journal were happier and emotionally stronger than others (McCanlies, Gu, Andrew & Violanti, 2018).
An extension of the study in depressive patients showed that those who practiced gratitude exercises recovered quickly and felt more motivated to recover from their distress.
Building Resilience with Gratitude
Many psychologists believe that emotional resilience is an interaction of five components (McCullough & Witvliet, 2002):
- Social Competence: The ability to stand out among others and the need to win a situation.
- Problem Solving: The ability to focus on solutions and act proactively on them.
- Autonomy: The motivation to exercise freedom and request it when necessary.
- Forgiveness: The inner strength to let go of something and move forward from there.
- Empathy: The strength to feel for others and see the issue from their perspective.
Modern research and studies indicate that there is a sixth component in emotional resilience: gratitude. Gratitude generates emotional resilience by:
- Helping us see the positive things in life.
- Fighting negative rumination and rebuilding pessimistic thoughts with optimistic ones.
- Keeping our feet on the ground and accepting the current situation, even if it’s a harsh reality.
- Maintaining relationships and valuing the people who are there for us. As a result, we feel more loved, cared for, and hopeful.
Simple Gratitude Practices to Build Emotional Resilience
1. Meditation and Breathing Control
It’s a good idea to start any gratitude practice with vigorous meditation and a breathing control session. Deep breathing and constant focus allow the mind to calm and recover. You feel more relaxed and connected with yourself, and now is a good time to start your practice.
2. Gratitude List
Just like a gratitude journal, a gratitude list will help you face your blessings. Take a pencil and paper (or your mobile notepad) and make a list of all the people who offered their support when you needed it most. As you write, try to go back to those days and feel the gratitude in your heart again. Once the list is made, look at it for 2 minutes and then get back to work.
3. Thank-you Notes
Once you’ve completed your gratitude list, start writing a short thank-you note to each of the people you mentioned. The notes can be as brief as you like, but make sure to express your feelings in them. Send the messages to the interested people, whether as handwritten notes, SMS, or emails. Just make sure your message gets to them and don’t expect responses.
4. Reminiscence Meditation
- Sit down and begin with some deep breaths.
- As you feel more relaxed, start remembering a painful memory from the past. It could be an illness that you or your loved ones fought, your days of financial struggles, personal failures, or the pain of losing someone you loved dearly.
- Close your eyes and return to those days. Think about all the struggles and upheavals you went through at that time.
- Slowly shift your attention and come back to the life you're living now.
- Think about all the things you never thought you could get after the painful past.
- Imagine how safe and happy you are now, and take a moment to silently rejoice in your accomplishments.
- Stay there for a moment and slowly open your eyes.
Notice how this makes you feel more grateful for the present. The time travel we do with this meditation immediately exposes our strength: we begin to feel more confident and gain the strength to combat stress 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 the body's natural response to change, whether good or bad. Positive stress or eustress brings us joy and is usually the least of our worries. Unexpected setbacks trigger negative stress or distress. We consider it 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 that indicated that gratitude effectively releases stress hormones and boosts positive emotions like happiness. Committing to daily gratitude practice reduces a range of negative emotions and acts as a natural detox for the mind and body.
Studies have indicated that people who are more grateful are healthier and more resilient to stress in life (Krause, 2006). An experiment conducted on three groups of people, each representing a different age group, revealed that older men and women felt more grateful to God for their lives and had a higher stress tolerance index than others.
Pause. Breathe. And appreciate
Gratitude is not a quick fix or immediate relief from stress. Practicing gratitude does not mean we will be happy and cheerful forever. 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 simply gain a closer view of the good and right things that still exist in life. The benefits of keeping a gratitude journal are numerous.
By being more grateful inside and expressing it on the outside, we gain the power to fight and cope with stress.
A LOOK AT DEPRESSION AND GRATITUDE:
“It’s impossible to feel depressed and grateful at the same time.” - Naomi Williams -
Dr. John Medina, in his best-selling project "Brain Rules," mentioned how gratitude could be a revelation in tough times. He indicated that by looking around and recognizing the support we have right now, we can successfully shift our focus from our burdens to the blessings we have.
Depression has a psychological and neurochemical basis, both of which can be addressed with gratitude. By shifting our attention from problems to solutions, gratitude practices affect serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin, neurotransmitters that make us feel good (Burton, 2020). With the increase of these chemicals in the brain, apathy disappears, and we revive the motivation that depression had absorbed.
Gratitude and appreciation intertwine with numerous benefits, including improved mood and self-esteem (Killen & Macaskill, 2015). Gratitude as an intervention for treating depression is convenient, requires less time, is less costly, and useful in the long term (Mills et al., 2015).
Gratitude Exercises for Dealing with Depression
Sansone & Sansone (2010) have suggested three gratitude practices that work best with depression and grief.
1. Gratitude Journal
As mentioned earlier, keeping a journal in which you write about all the people and things in life you're grateful for can make a notable difference in your mental state. Here's how to prepare and maintain one:
- Commit to daily practice.
- Set aside some time (e.g., early in the morning or just before bed) and record your gratitude at the same time every day.
- Review previous pages and recall the good things that happened in the past.
- When filling out the journal, try to be as detailed as possible. Record every little detail associated with the person or incident you're offering your gratitude for.
- Make your journal attractive. Use colored pens, stickers, or craft papers to give your gratitude journal an exciting look. Make the journal an experience, not just a daily practice.
2. Gratitude Evaluations
Self-assessments like GQ-6 (McCullough, Emmons & Tsang, 2002) or the Gratitude Assessment (Hardy, 2010) can be a good way to evaluate how grateful we feel on the inside. In addition to better understanding our level of gratitude, gratitude evaluations increase awareness and present us with a variety of possibilities to deal with our stress and negativity.
You can also take the gratitude questionnaire developed by Mitchel Adler and Nancy Fagley (2005), which provides 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 technique to resonate our thoughts and feelings on all the people, situations, and things we are truly grateful for. Through gratitude meditation, we choose to focus on ourselves (our achievements, our talents, our feelings at this moment) and the world (our family, friends, and all others who love and support us unconditionally).
It improves perspective, clarifies vision, and liberates us from the burden of stress and burnout almost immediately.
HOW DOES GRATITUDE AFFECT MENTAL HEALTH?
"But I know I spent a lot of time existing, and now I intend to live." - Sabaa Tahir -
Stress doesn't have to control our lives when we feel and express gratitude regularly. No part of well-being is untouched by gratitude, whether physical, mental, or social.
Practicing gratitude is about adopting a vision of life filled with appreciation. By appreciating and valuing ourselves, our loved ones, nature, and the Almighty, we experience the purest form of all positive emotions. It helps us realize that nothing is obvious and nothing should be taken for granted, as it is in the little things in life where our true joy resides.
Dr. Emmons, in his studies on the surprising effects of gratitude on mental health, revealed:
- Gratitude practices significantly reduce heart disease, inflammation, and neurodegeneration.
- Gratitude jars and keeping a journal can help people fighting depression, anxiety, and burnout.
- Writing thank-you letters brings hope and evokes positivity in suicidal patients and those battling terminal illnesses.
- Gratitude improves the sleep-wake cycle and enhances mood. It helps people with insomnia, substance abuse, and eating disorders.
A FINAL MESSAGE:
Practicing gratitude is synonymous with expressing our feelings toward others and ourselves. With simple words of love and praise, we not only make others feel good, but we also feel much better about ourselves and our lives. Gratitude is about feeling the right way, about the right things, and at the right time. It is inextricably linked to self-discipline and motivation.
It may not provide instant relief from pain and stress, but it returns our sense of control.
By recognizing and appreciating our resources, gratitude helps us take charge of our own lives. As Robin Sharma has wonderfully expressed:
“Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness increases productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. And mastery inspires the world.”
