The Power of Gratitude

“gratitude is the memory of the heart.” french proverb by Jean-baptiste massieu

Those who know me well, know that I have a solid daily gratitude practice. The profound healing that takes place and positive outlook are just some of the reasons why I have adopted this into my daily routine. I wanted to share some of the healing power and techniques that a gratitude practice can offer on a mind, body and soul level.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude is an inner sense or attitude of appreciation, helping to shift perspective to look for the good.

This simple practice can turn around a bad day and help move through difficult feelings that may arise. Most people tend to stuff down uncomfortable experiences and focus on what is going wrong. This ends up narrowing the focus on the problem instead of being present. When we are present, it is easier to find a solution or simply just feel the feeling that comes up allowing them to pass through.

“Emotions are just energy passing through the body. feelings are what we feel in our bodies. what we attach to these emotions can be different for everyone. gratitude helps you move through this process easier”.

What I love most about gratitude, is that it is accessible to EVERYONE in any age or stage of life. Let’s look closer at the benefits of a gratitude practice.

Benefits of a gratitude practice

There are so many wonderful benefits of a daily gratitude practice. There have been many scientific studies done over a long period of time that shows the following benefits from a regular gratitude practice. Here are the key findings that key researchers like Robert Emmons, Ph.D. found:

1. Less depression.

2. Increased emotional wellbeing.

3. More resilient of trauma.

4. Get along better with others.

5. Achieve more.

6. Pay it forward, willing to give back.

7. Better sleep.

8. Higher self-esteem.

9. More self-control and regulation.

10. Reduction in blood pressure and healthier lipid panels.

Robert Emmons also found the key components on how gratitude works to solicit these positive changes.

So how does gratitude actually work to promote change?

Per Robert’s work, here are the 3 main factors:

1. gratitude amplifies the good.

   This helps shift perspective to see the good in situations, other people or self. This in turn draws more of what you focus on to you, such as abundance.

   I like to use the example of when you are car shopping and all the sudden you see the car you want everywhere you go. This shows the power of our thoughts and what we focus on is what we receive in the physical world.

2. gratitude rescues us.

   Gratitude rescues us from being in a mindset of victimhood or downright negativity. This in turn helps our mindset remove anything blocking happiness from entering your life, allowing an easier, joyful and free life.

3. gratitude connects.

   Having a sense of gratitude helps show that we don’t exist alone. It highlights that everyone has support, connection and relationships that bring a sense of peace and unity.

   So now we know the key components, the benefits and what gratitude is, how do you start?

How to create a gratitude practice

Let’s look at how you can tap into gratitude and the different ways to create a practice.

My favorite and personal way to practice gratitude is to list 5 things I am grateful for today.

This can take place either to start your day, in the evening or both! '

In Robert Emmons book, The Healing Power of Gratitude, he points out 3 main factors to getting the full benefit of your gratitude practice. Here is a summary of how to maximize your gratitude:

1. be as specific as possible.

   It’s easy to just repeat the same 5 things daily creating a more auto pilot response and leading to burn out. Focusing on specifics helps bring to light why you are grateful for that person, place or moment.

2. surprises

   What surprised you today and why? This could help you find something you are grateful for that you normally wouldn’t think of like the kind comment your coworker gave you, sunshine on your lunch break when it was raining all morning, green lights the whole way home. The possibilities are endless to find the magic and beauty of each day and the gifts they bring, even if they aren’t huge.

3. scarcity

   What is something rare or unusual that happened today? This could also be a prompt for finding something you may have missed like a blessing in disguise or a hardship that brought a positive outcome after.

The more I have practiced focusing on what is going right and what I am grateful for, I have found this has helped shift my outlook to automatically look for the blessings.

This in turn has shown me that I can choose what I want to focus on, and I have full control on my outlook and reaction in life, no matter what happens to me or goes on around me.

This is HUGE.

Imagine if everyone was able to allot the time to focus on the good, feel all the feelings without judgement, share blessings and promote peace and unity.

It starts with you, with each of us. I am so grateful for my gratitude practice, and for this platform to be able to share such a profound gift that anyone can give to themselves.

*Stay tuned for upcoming workshops like my 21 day gratitude practice challenge to help assist you in implementing gratitude into your daily life. You can also look at getting a gratitude journal with specific prompts and reflections to help guide you here.

*If you’d like to check out some of my favorite gratitude resources, you can look at the works of Robert Emmons, Deepak Chopra, Thich Nhat Hanh or my resource shop page here.

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