Hands up who has been told to practice gratitude as its good for your mental health and wellbeing? Yep, check
Who has been told that you should do this daily as it helps you to be present and live in the now? Yep, check
Who's read about this before and thought, yeah, I probably should do it more but don't really get it, see the point of it or know what the benefit of it is? Yep, check
Who has honestly thought that its a load of shite? Yep, check
I guess now you're wondering, what the heck am I writing about it for, well, hear me out and hopefully I can change your thoughts on this... If you're already in the camp of, hun, I've been going this forever and I've totally got this nailed - I salute you, keep up the awesome work, you rock!
A while back I was sent on one of those management leadership courses (yep, you got it, you know the sort), the trainer was lovely, all about wellbeing and how we look after ourselves as when we do that we are more than likely to be better managers and look after other too (obvs agree with this). As part of the course we were sent away over a period of time to write a gratitude journal and record what we should be grateful for. I think we were supposed to completed this over a period of 28 days and write 20 things each day where we showed gratitude and if we felt comfortable to then feedback our thoughts and journey to the rest of the cohort. It wasn't really explained why we should practice gratitude other than its a good thing to do to be mindful and be more present
Honestly, when I tell you I was bad at this, believe me! (This is embarrassing to share but as we're all friends here) I was literally writing as part of my 20 things I was grateful for, was breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks and spiced rum! Yes, everyday, even if I didn't have a rum, I was grateful that it existed! Even as a coach, knowing that there would be a benefit of mindfulness, I just couldn't get in to it one single bit, I decided that it wasn't for me and needless to say that I don't think I completed 7 days lets alone 28! And, here's the shocker, no one else managed to complete the gratitude journal either in my cohort as we all just didn't get the point of it whatsoever. So that was that, however, I decided that my take away was to do something that would be mindful each day, after all, creating awareness is key for making conscious changes.
A few months on, I am completing my Trauma Recovery Certification, one of the required texts was Deb Dana's Anchored, for those that are not familiar, the text is all about befriending your nervous system by using Polyvagal Theory. The theory is great in trauma recovery as it talks about how your autonomic nervous system responds to trauma by going into flight, fright, freeze or fawn. How we our brains and bodies can get stuck in a dorsal or ventral state and struggle to get back into our normal window of tolerance following a traumatic event. Throughout the text there are multiple exercises in each chapter on how to calm the nervous system and to bring it back into balance. In chapter 10 Deb Dana talks about gratitude and the benefits that just by practicing this can have on us.
Dana explains how gratitude is an experience of connection or thankfulness which can be though a thought of appreciation, its an feeling and action that we take. As we enter the moment of gratitude, physically, "our heart rhythm changes, our blood pressure drops, our immune system improves, our stress is reduced and we sleep longer and deeper. Psychologically, we feel more joyful, more alive, more generous, more compassionate, more connected to others. We experience more life satisfaction and less burnout" (Dana, 2021, P139). Where the gratitude is an emotional connections it invites us go go deeper into that relationship, we become aware of being in receipt of good vibes and that they come from another person. When we feel good vibes, we want to offer it in return, it deepens our connection with others and helps to create a positive feedback loop (Dana, 2021).
So, if we now know that there is evidence that just by practicing gratitude we can:
Change our heart rate
Lower blood pressure
Improve your immune system
Reduce stress
Sleep better
Feel more joyful and alive
Feel more generous
More compassionate
Greater life satisfaction
Less burnout
Deepen our connection with others
Why are we not jumping up and down and shouting about gratitude a bit more? I know if I was told about the physical and psychological benefits of this practice, I would have definitely embraced it much sooner
What are you going to be grateful for today? Are you going to share your gratitude with anyone?
Reference:
Dana, D (2021) Anchored. Boulder: Sounds True
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