How grateful are you? Gratitude is important for physical and emotional well-being, but let’s consider two aspects of gratitude that may be overlooked: appreciating the struggles you’ve experienced, and sharing your gratitude with others.
There was a study that asked 2,000 Americans whether they had experienced any of 37 different negative life events over the course of four years. It looked at depression, health problems and life satisfaction. The outcome may surprise you.
Those who had the most and those who had the least struggles suffered more than the others. In other words, the study showed that going through some hard times resulted in better physical and emotional health. While multiple negative events can be bad for us, so can the lack of negative events.
Is it true for you?
Think about your own challenges. Hard times can build your coping skills, help you recognize what’s important to you, and give you confidence to tackle future problems. You’re probably not grateful when you are in the middle of hard times, but looking back you might be grateful for what you learned from them.
Gratitude helps!
Think of the people in your life who have made a positive difference. Family members, teachers, friends, fellow service members and Veterans, your health care team, religious leaders—anyone whose presence has made your life better.
There was a study on how to increase happiness and it found that an effective strategy was to write a letter to one of these people and then read it to them. Writing a letter allows you time to reflect on what this person means to you and draw out the details. Reading it allows them to hear the impact they had on your life. This action has enormous benefits for both the reader and the listener.
You may want to start this process with a five-minute meditation process on gratitude:
Putting Gratitude into Practice
During the holiday season—or anytime you want to build gratitude—consider these two ideas:
- Think about how you have overcome life challenges and what you learned about yourself.
- Write a letter to someone who helped you in your life and read it to them.
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