UNIVERSITY COUNSELING SERVICES

The Power of Gratitude

by William Hale, Ph.D., UCS/CBH

In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer

We all say 'thank you' (hopefully) on a regular basis, out of basic social convention. For most people it is done without thinking. However, how many of us experience the meaning of those two words when we say them? It is a safe bet that most of us take little if any time during our day to assess what we have to be grateful for.

In the field of positive psychology, gratitude has been referred to as the "forgotten factor" in research on happiness. We seem to have a tendency to focus on what we think might make us happy – more money, more stuff, a new job, a different set of life circumstances, etc. - and forget about the things already in our lives that have enriched us.

In their research on gratitude, Robert Emmons, Ph.D. and Michael McCullough, Ph.D. have discovered a positive link between gratitude and a number of factors associated with general wellbeing. For instance, people who keep weekly gratitude journals were more likely to exercise more, have fewer physical complaints, and have better attitudes about their lives in general than those who kept records of neutral events or aggravations in their lives. Also, the researchers found that those who kept gratitude records were more likely to make progress toward significant goals in their lives (personal, academic, health) than those who did not. People who participate in gratitude exercises were more likely to exhibit higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, attentiveness and energy than those who recorded aggravations or made 'downward social comparisons' (at least I'm not as bad as someone else).

When a person doesn't have gratitude, something is missing in his or her humanity. A person can almost be defined by his or her attitude toward gratitude.

Elie Wiesel

The researchers also found that people who were grateful experienced more positive emotions, had greater life satisfaction, optimism and vitality, while experiencing less stress and depression. Grateful people also tend to be more in tune to the feelings and needs of others, and act accordingly by being more generous and helpful.

Keeping a Gratitude Journal

With all the benefits that have been shown to come from keeping track of the positive things in our life, how difficult would it be to shift our focus? Sure things go wrong in our lives – daily annoyances and disappointments - as well as more significant negative events that are a part of life. However, we all have a choice regarding what we want to focus on – the negative or the positive.

Try this: Every day for one week, write down at least five things for which you are grateful, without repeating any entries. These can be routine daily occurrences, or they can be long-standing situations or relationships in your life. Think about a simple favor someone did for you today. Then think about how grateful you may be for the person in your life that did that favor, and for everyone else in your life who enriches it on whatever level. Think about the people who have made life more difficult for you. Despite everything else, how have you grown because of the problems they may have caused? Think about the opportunities you have as a student at Case. Think about family, friends, professors, or anyone else who makes your life richer.

When we stop and think carefully about our lives in this way, it is amazing how many things we can find for which we can be grateful. This simple exercise can result in the development of a new habit – focusing on what is right in our lives, more so than on what is wrong. It only takes a minute or two out of your day, and it can give you something else to focus on when things might not be going well. Give it a try. You might be very pleased with the results.