Editor’s Note: Check out the post from November 26th, 2019 here: Does Gratitude Make Me Money?

Why should I have gratitude?  Ugh!

My clients want me to hit the number . . .  And be ethical about it!  Pressure, pressure, pressure.

For me, the problem was the way I looked at things.  I saw gratitude as a way of giving thanks for what had been given me.  I see things differently today.

For me giving thanks is different from being grateful.  Once again, my self-oriented brain got tricked into doing good for me.  I was outsmarting myself.  Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, then I will thank you.  But there were some things I didn’t know.  I didn’t know what I didn’t know.  It turns out gratitude is a tool.  A method for making my own life better.  Even better. . . it made the lives of those around me better.  And they behaved better also.  Unbelievable!

Once again, modern brain-body science jumps ahead and teaches me things.  I am told there are seven scientifically proven benefits of gratitude.  They say gratitude is one of the most misunderstood free tools for a better life.  There’s no money involved.  And the benefits are amazing.

1. Gratitude improves our relationships.  With loved ones, with friends, with acquaintances, and especially with strangers who happen to trigger something we like.  We all want to be appreciated.  A simple thank you can open the door to friendship, by thanking someone who simply holds the door open for us.  Simple acknowledgement.  Think about the simple recognition of an appraisal well done.  And how we feel about that client in the future.
2. Gratitude improves our physical health. The research results show that grateful people have less aches and pains.  They’re more likely to take better care of their health, exercise more, and be open to health care.  A person who declares “thank you” to the universe, is more likely to want to stay alive – to experience more good things to come.
3. Gratitude improves emotional health. Negative destructive feelings can eat you up.  Resentment, fear, envy, regret, and unfulfilled self-centered wants – affects us directly, our body chemistry, our motivation, and how others respond to us.  People can feel these things, even as we may try to conceal our unpleasant motive.
4. Gratitude reduces anger and isolation. People don’t like angry people.  Unless they find someone, who is angry about the same things.  They may even band together.  But there comes greater isolation from the rest of society.  They show more aggression towards those who disagree, or of that different race, belief, place, or hold the ‘inferior’ professional designation.
5. Grateful people sleep better. When my head works on me, often is it about the “enemy” or those who are in the way of me getting what I want, or threaten what I have.  As I go to bed, thinking about what I do have (rather than what I don’t have), makes me feel safer and more relaxed.  I am told that the act of writing such things down has an even stronger effect, maybe better than some pill or shot.
6. Gratitude gives self-esteem and a greater sense of self-worth. Self-esteem helps sports performance (you already knew that).  It changes face wrinkles to smile wrinkles.  And it lessens social comparisons, which may lead to even worse non-gratitude feelings.  Putting others down to feel better ourselves has the reverse long-term effect.  A brief up, followed by a gnawing self-loathing.
7. Gratitude improves brain power! It reduces stress and the effects of prior trauma.  As a war veteran myself, I have found the power of gratitude has given me healing and strength, and surprising opportunity.  It increases resilience and further opportunity.

And all it takes is two things:  1) Change my attitude.  Focus on being thankful for what I have been given; 2) Make it a habit.  Habits take consistency.  Try it for 7 weeks every morning and every evening.  Seven weeks.  Start over if you miss a day.

You’ll feel good, look good and think better, which could give you even more gratitude.

Attribution:

“13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do” by Amy Morin  https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/what-mentally-strong-people-dont-do/201504/7-scientifically-proven-benefits-gratitude

Amy Morin in Psychology today
“7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude”

Also Time magazine
“7 Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude”