Giving Thanks!

Gratitude: thankfulness, appreciation
- a positive emotion or attitude in acknowledgment of a benefit that one has received or will receive.

There has been research conducted that when individuals are induced to feel grateful, they are more likely to behave prosocially toward others. (Tsang, 2006) (Bartlett & DeSteno, 2006)

Gratitude may also serve to reinforce future prosocial behavior in benefactors. (Carey, Clicque, Leighton, & Milton, 1976).

Research has also suggested that feelings of gratitude may be beneficial to subjective emotional well-being (Emmons & McCullough, 2003). People who tend to experience gratitude more frequently than others also tend to be happier, more helpful and forgiving, and less depressed than their less grateful counterparts (Kashdan, Uswatte, & Julian, 2006; McCullough, Emmons, & Tsang, 2002; Watkins, Woodward, Stone, & Kolts, 2003)

Gratitude Journal:
One way to begin cultivating a greater sense of gratitude in your life is by keeping a daily "Gratitude Journal". In Sarah Ban Breathnach's 1995 book, Simple Abundance: a daybook of comfort and joy, She identified six spiritual principles which play through the essays and give meaning to her days. They are gratitude, simplicity, order, harmony, beauty, and joy. According to Sarah, the gratitude journal has to be the first step on the Simple Abundance path or it just won't work for you. "Simplicity, order, harmony, beauty, and joy--all the other principles that can transform your life will not blossom and flourish without gratitude". Further, she prescribes, writing down I write down five things every day that you are grateful for.
I think it is a wonderful tool to begin to develop a greater sense of appreciation, and wellbeing in your life.

Recommended Reading:
The two books by Sue Bender, "Plain and Simple", and "Everyday Sacred" are absolutely wonderful and inspiring in that they really allow the reader to gain awareness and appreciation for the sense of simplicity, commitment, and contentment that comes from mindfulness, and self acceptance. She draws the reader's attention to the small miracles that are present in our seemingly ordinary everyday lives.

In Plain and Simple, Bender shares the lessons she learned while in the presence of the Amish people. In Everyday Sacred, the author writes about the process of bringing what she learned from the Amish back into her own life.
*All three of these books, along with the journals that accompany them can be found by clicking on the carousel at the bottom of this post.

Gratitude is the memory of the heart. ~Jean Baptiste Massieu, translated from French

Have a Blessed Thanksgiving!

Chris

References:

1. Barlett, M.Y., & DeSteno, D. (2006). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: Helping when it costs you. Psychological Science, 17, 319-325.

2. Carey, J. R., Clicque, S. H., Leighton, B. A., & Milton, F. (1976). A test of positive reinforcement of customers. Journal of Marketing, 40, 98-100.

3. Emmons, R.A. (2007). Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier. New York: Houghton-Mifflin.

4. Emmons, R. A. & McCullough, M. E. (2003). Counting blessings versus burdens: An experimental investigation of gratitude and subjective well-being in daily life.

5. Tsang, J. (2006a). The effects of helper intention on gratitude and indebtedness. Motivation and Emotion, 30, 198-204.

6. Tsang, J. (2006b). Gratitude and prosocial behavior: An experimental test of gratitude. Cognition and Emotion, 20, 138-148.

7. Watkins, P. C., Woodward, K., Stone, T., & Kolts, R. L. (2003). Gratitude and happiness: Development of a measure of gratitude, and relationships with subjective well-being. Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 431-452.

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