Greater happiness goals: Why it helps to practice gratitude in hard times
It’s never felt more important to count our blessings, and it turns out it’ good for us, too
Text: Tiff H
According to Dr Robert Emmons, a leading researcher on the topic, there are three simple stages of gratitude:
1. Recognising what we are grateful for
2. Acknowledging it
3. Appreciating it
Yet, gratitude isn’t just for the Thanksgiving dinner table or when life is rolling along smoothly. It is arguably when the goings get tough that consciously identifying what you can still be thankful for — whether it’s through a gratitude letter, list or journal — becomes a tool to cope with the adversity you’re going through, whether it’s mental, physical or social.
Mental benefits
Counting your blessings leads to heightened wellbeing and the cultivation of positive emotions. It decreases feelings of anxiety and depression, and is especially useful if you’re going through hardship. Studies have shown that consciously practicing an attitude of gratitude enables you to build up a psychological immune system that allows you to deal with crisis and renders you more resilient to minor hiccups or major upheavals. While we can be thankful for possessions, practicing gratitude naturally guides us towards focusing on less tangible elements in our life, making us less materialistic.
Physical benefits
When going through adversity, physical health is often something that suffers and falls by the wayside. As gratitude decreases feelings of stress and anxiety, practicing gratitude has been linked to improvement of sleep quality and duration, boosting of the immune system and lowering blood pressure. Additionally, gratitude is associated with higher levels of good cholesterol (HDL), lower levels of bad cholesterol (LDL). It also has been linked with higher levels of heart rate variability, which is a marker of cardiac coherence and is equated with less stress and mental clarity.
Social benefits
It’s incredibly important to have a strong support system when going through a crisis and being thankful has been shown to strengthen social relationships, bring people closer and create more intimacy in both romantic and platonic relationships. Those who are more grateful have also been shown to have access to a wider social network and more friends, likely because the effect of practicing gratitude towards others makes them feel appreciated. Indeed, it was an awareness of appreciation that cemented one of the strongest of friendships in history: “Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude.” - A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh)
And who doesn’t want a bit of that?
