Gratitude

Cultivating a gratitude practice is absolutely life-changing.  What are you grateful for today?  What are five things you can share on your gratitude list?

• Gratitude leads to joy. The overflow of gratitude is joy. Realizing God’s abundant goodness, even in the hard, is a gateway to joy. Psalms 126 shows this so clearly as the Hebrew exiles sang their thanks to God for bringing them back to Israel. It’s a psalm I prayed in advance for years.

• Attitude disconnects us from toxic, negative emotions and the ruminating that often accompanies them. Writing a letter “shifts our attention” so that our focus is on positive emotions.
• Expressing gratitude helps us even if we don’t explicitly share it with someone. We’re happier and more satisfied with life because we completed the exercise.
• The positive effects of gratitude writing compound like interest. You might not notice the benefit of a daily or weekly practice, but you will after several weeks and months.
• A gratitude practice trains the brain to be more in tune with experiencing gratitude — a positive plus a positive, equals more positives

For individuals: 

• Happiness and positive mood
• more satisfaction with life
• less materialistic
• less likely to experience burnout
• better physical health
• better sleep
• less fatigue
• lower levels of cellular inflammation
• greater resiliency
• encourages the development of patience, humility, and wisdom

For groups:

• increases prosocial behaviors
• strengthens relationships
• may help employees’ effectiveness
• may increase job satisfaction