The Power of Gratitude

I have always known that saying ‘thank you’ was important. For most of us, the first two ‘rules’ of being polite that we are taught are to say ‘please’ and ‘thank you’.

Having grown up in the church, being grateful was always and still is being taught and emphasised.  Beyond just being polite and hearing gratitude being preached from the pulpit, being grateful has attracted more and more attention in recent times.

In an age where the levels of depression are growing at a staggering rate, gratefulness has been known to increase happiness and decrease the feeling of negative and toxic emotions. I myself can bear testament to this. During times when I intentionally practice a gratitude ritual in some form, I genuinely experience more positive emotions and have a better perspective on any challenge or obstacle whether perceived or real.

I am very happy with the idea and concept of gratitude being linked to emotional benefits and as I read more about it, I can’t help but be in awe of the power of such a simple thing to do. Remember, simple hardly ever really means easy.

A few months ago, I came across an article that listed 7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude’. I won’t re-write the article here, but I will be sure to share the reference at the end of this post so you can have a read yourself.  As I read, I stopped at the second benefit listed:

2. Gratitude improves physical health

What? Come on, surely not.

I was pleasantly surprised at this finding that grateful people tend to ‘experience fewer aches and pains’ and report to feel healthier than others.

If the emotional benefits of increased happiness are not enough to convince you to be more intentional about being grateful, then hopefully the physical benefits are.

Starting a gratitude ritual is one of the ways to being intentional. An easy and practical way of doing this is starting a gratitude journal. Every morning or evening, you can write down 3 things that you are grateful for in a notebook. You can also start a ritual with a friend, sibling or partner where you both share what you are grateful for in the morning or evening – anything that works for you.

To get you started, I created a Gratitude Starter Kit that you can download and print out to use for 7 days.

you can download it for free in the link at the bottom of this post.

It’s so easy to miss all the blessings around us. Let’s take a moment today to be grateful. Our minds, hearts and bodies will thank us.

So go on…say thank you.

Xx Sine