Gems of gratitude.

It’s the time of year when my Facebook feed is filled with people doing their 30 days of gratitude for November. This year, I haven’t seen as much as I did last or the year before. I still enjoy reading the ones who do. I love it when the small details are recounted. For example, one of my friends once told me that the thing she missed the most about small children, was the pitter-pat of bare feet alongside the rustle of a diaper. It touched my heart. Ever since then, when I’m having a rough day, I take a deep breath and listen for that specific harmony. And I smile every time.

I know, first hand, the benefits of cultivating and expressing gratitude. It’s been a matter of personal pondering and study. By that, I don’t just mean personal reflection. The scientific study of the effects of gratitude on someone’s wellbeing has been a topic that is gathering some steam in the past couple years. The findings are not surprising.  Apparently, people who keep gratitude journals report healthier lifestyles, are happier, and even report a stronger ability to make and achieve goals.

Want to be healthier?
One thing you could do is start a gratitude journal. According to one study; “Gratitude predicted greater subjective sleep quality and sleep duration, and less sleep latency and daytime dysfunction.”
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022399908004224

As a pregnant woman who is also a mother of four, sleep alludes me. I also struggle with bouts of anxiety or depression that make it difficult for me to get true rest. I tried this gratitude-journal writing and I can see that it has really helped.

A different study found that people who wrote down the things they were grateful for on a weekly basis, exercised more, reported fewer physical discomforts, and felt better about their lives as a whole.
https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/pdfs/GratitudePDFs/6Emmons-BlessingsBurdens.pdf

This has been my experience so far. In the six weeks that I have kept a gratitude journal. (I write in it about three times a week). I have seen this happen. Naturally, not because I researched it and realized it was “supposed” to happen. My mind has literally rewired itself from the desire to watch Netflix when I feel depressed, to wanting to take a walk. Now, if I could only get it to rewire so I’d want to do dishes…

How about happier?
Counting your blessings increases your happiness. It just does.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/sbp/sbp/2003/00000031/00000005/art00001
A study conducted in 2008 published in the Journal of Research in Personality, came to this conclusion:

Overall gratitude seems to directly foster social support, and to protect people from stress and depression, which has implications for clinical interventions.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092656607001286

I have found this to be true in my life. If I take the time to sit down and write the things I am grateful for, my day or week turns around.


Finally, being grateful can help you with your goals.

There is a study on this, but it was quoted in a different article, and I couldn’t get my hands on the primary source. 

I do have some personal experience in this area, though. About four years ago, after I had my third child, my friends and family told me not to expect to lose the baby weight. It seemed a common consensus that it just became impossible after the third kid.

But I wanted to lose the weight. So, I researched every area of the topic. I began losing. In the end, the code was cracked. I lost all the weight I had gained and then some.

One of the keys that I discovered, was to be grateful for my body just as it was. Grateful that I was in it. That I could breathe, walk, sing, and dance. When I looked in the mirror and saw extra rolls, instead of pinching them and frowning, I would smile. It was a part of me, my body. And I was grateful for it.

The days when I gave into the automatic, subconscious, personal, body-shaming, were the days I would mess up my goals. My calorie count would go out the window. I lost my motivation to exercise or avoid candy.  I’m not sure why this happened, but if I could find a reason to be grateful, then I was excited to improve. I could focus on how far I had come. Or how the strain on my knees was noticeably less, etc. The key was gratitude.

Gratitude gave me the strength to keep going.

So, how to begin.
  1. Get a notebook. Or open a file on your computer.
  2. Write one thing that you were grateful for that day. Or more, if they come. Don’t push yourself. One counted blessing can change an entire day.
  3. Repeat as often as you want. (Daily, weekly, etc.)
It's really that simple.

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