Can giving thanks every day lead to greater happiness?

When people think of giving thanks, they imagine the Norman Rockwell scene around the Thanksgiving table, finding gratitude only on that fourth Thursday of November.  Or some who are more ambitious might devote the whole month of November to giving thanks, maybe posting something each day on Facebook.  But it begs the question: what if gratitude was a year round practice.  In “365 Thank Yous: The Year a Simple Act of Daily Gratitude Changed My Life”, John Kralik wrote about how he decided to write a thank you letter every day for a year during a rough period in his life.  After writing letters to his coworkers, Starbucks baristas, his daughter’s teachers and even his ex-wife, he noticed that he was able to see the positive side of life and his life circumstances actually improved.

Martin Seligman, the guru of positive psychology who studies the power of optimism, has authored many studies on the long term effects of gratitude.  He and his co-authors have found that a daily or even weekly practice of gratitude can help with a variety of positive outcomes including exercising, goal setting and overall happiness.

So, we know that gratitude is associated with many positive outcomes, but how does it work? One of our clues rests in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which is widely used to treat a variety of maladies including depression, anxiety, and anger.  One of the basic tenets of cognitive behavioral therapy is identifying and replacing your negative thoughts.    Basically, if we can change the way we think, we can change the way we feel and in turn behave.   Gratitude, it turns out is one of the best ways to combat negative thoughts about yourself, the world and your future.  If we are able to take a daily annoyance or frustration and reframe it by looking at the positive spin on it and even be grateful for it, then we shift our focus towards happier thoughts.  Over time, the focus on positive (away from the negative) will change we will feel about events that come up and alter our behavior for the better

So use this season of Thanksgiving to begin your practice of gratitude.  You could start a gratitude journal, incorporate gratitude into your morning or evening routine each day or do a gratitude visit.  A gratitude visit is where you think of someone that has done something for you, but hasn’t been thanked.  You can write them a letter describing what they have done for you as well as the benefits and then deliver the letter and read it to the person. 

After you have gratitude in mind and heart, the next step is putting gratitude in action.  When we feel truly thankful for what life has brought us, then we can pay it forward.  Doing for others helps us to get out of our heads and life circumstances and focus on the external world.  Gratitude in action could be helping a neighbor, collecting for a cause or doing organized volunteer work.  It can be small or large—all that is required is that you are doing something for someone else.