Weekly Wellness Tip: Being Grateful Pays Off

Expressing thanks may be one of the simplest ways to feel better.

-Harvard Health Publications

Psychological research strongly and consistently supports a positive association between gratitude and greater happiness. Grateful people report feeling more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal more effectively with adversity, and build stronger relationships. "Thousands of years of literature talk about the benefits of cultivating gratefulness as a virtue," says University of California Davis psychology professor Robert Emmons. Throughout history, philosophers and religious leaders have extolled gratitude as a virtue integral to health and well-being.

While Thanksgiving reminds us to be grateful for our blessings, cultivating a spirit of gratitude all year long helps us connect to something larger than ourselves…other people, nature, our own spirituality.  Try some of these tips for cultivating gratitude.

• Start a gratitude journal. Emmons' research showed that people who keep gratitude journals on a weekly basis exercise more regularly, report fewer physical symptoms, feel better about their lives as a whole, and maintain greater optimism about the future.


• Create a list of benefits in your life and ask yourself, "To what extent do I take these for granted?" Some people need such concrete visual reminders to maintain mindfulness of their gratitude, explains Emmons.

• Talk to yourself in a creative, optimistic, and appreciate manner, suggests Sam Quick, PhD, of the University of Kentucky. This could entail simply reflecting on things for which you're grateful or, if you're facing a challenging situation, seeing how it can ultimately be beneficial. For instance, having to cope with particularly difficult people in your job or neighborhood can improve your patience and understanding.

• Reframe a situation by looking at it with a different, more positive attitude, offers Quick. He provides this example: Rather than seeing his 6-year-old daughter as cranky, irritable, and troublesome, a father might reach the conclusion that the youngster is tired and needs rest.