The Far-Reaching Impact of Daily Gratitude
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Focusing on what we lack is an almost guaranteed way to lower mood and motivation
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Farzana Ali explores the benefits of daily gratitude, and how to start your practice
We live in a society where comparison dominates and is stealing our peace and joy. Focusing on what you may “lack” and what others have will keep you in a place of resistance. Your brain will keep seeking to validate a scarcity mindset and that abundance is not for you. Practising gratitude will help to shift that mindset and open you up to more fulfilment. It literally rewires your brain on a biological level by changing your brain chemistry. Paying attention to what you have prompts the release of a cocktail of feelgood chemicals in your brain, such as serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine – these are the neurotransmitters that help to manage your emotions and immediate stress responses. This makes you feel good, happier, more satisfied and less anxious.
Research published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that just 10 weeks of writing about what you are grateful for makes you more optimistic about life and encourages you to exercise more regularly. You may even become ill less frequently than people who write down their daily frustrations. A further study from the Greater Good Science Centre at the University of California Berkeley found that within eight weeks, MRI scans show a stronger brain structure for social cognition and empathy in people who consistently give thanks.72 Meaning that being grateful change both your perspective on the world – it makes you a better person, too.
One stumbling block about showing gratitude, especially if you are new to the concept, is to reserve it only for the big moments. But you can’t run out of gratitude – it is limitless. You do not have to save your thanks for life-changing events such as big purchases and milestone news. It is easy to be thankful when you have a new car, job, home, designer handbag or holiday booked. But seeing joy in the smaller interactions will change your life in a more expansive way. Giving thanks to those tiny moments, the ones that could easily go unacknowledged, is where the magic lies.
This does not mean you have to be thankful for every moment of every day. This is about recognising that each day, even the sad, unhappy or stressful ones, have good moments. You may be grateful for the multitude of spectacular colours a sunrise provides, a crisp sunny day in winter, the smell and taste of your favourite coffee, or unexpectedly bumping into a friend on your commute. Sharing a conversation with a stranger at the bus stop or witnessing a sweet interaction between a parent and their child are pockets of joy in every single day. And while you may physically see them, you need to acknowledge and mentally register moments like this to really see them and reap the benefits.
You will notice that I have included events or situations that may not happen to you directly. You may wonder why you should feel gratitude for witnessing a sweet moment between two strangers. In its essence, gratitude is about flipping a switch on how you see life. So just bearing witness to someone else’s joy can also be a moment for you to be thankful. We do this with good friends already, being happy for their joy when they announce a new job or promotion, or on their wedding day. Since gratitude is not transactional, there is no reason why you can’t extend a feeling of happiness on seeing someone else’s contentment.
Your gratitude practice does not solely have to be external and you can and should include things you did as well. Look inward to say thanks, too. Perhaps you assisted someone in their day, gave up your seat to someone who needed it more on your commute or let a parent skip the coffee queue. In these moments you can say thanks for having the opportunity to be kind and fortunate that you were able to make someone else’s day better, easier and more comfortable.
Farzana Ali is the author of Sound Healing: How to Use Sound to Beat Stress and Anxiety
