What gratitude can do for your mind, body, and outlook
I’ve watched something interesting happen when people start practicing gratitude consistently.
At first, it can feel almost like an assignment.
Okay, what are three things I’m grateful for today?
But after a while, something starts to shift.
I’ve seen clients begin noticing things before it’s time to make the list.
The sunset.
Something their kid said.
A really good cup of coffee.
A moment when they realized they actually felt peaceful.
Something that went right in the middle of a day when plenty went wrong.
I’ve experienced this myself too.
At some point, you’re not just sitting down trying to think of things you’re grateful for.
You start noticing them while you’re living them.
And I think that’s where gratitude gets really interesting.
What You Look for, You Start to Notice
Our brains are constantly sorting through more information than we could possibly consciously pay attention to.
And when you’re stressed, overwhelmed, or going through something hard, it can become really easy to notice problems.
What went wrong?
What needs fixing?
What am I worried about?
What’s going to happen next?
Gratitude doesn’t make those things disappear.
It gives you a reason to notice what else is happening too.
That’s part of why I think a consistent gratitude practice can feel so different from occasionally reminding yourself that you “should be grateful.”
You’re practicing paying attention.
And eventually, you may start catching the good things without having to go looking quite so hard.
A Grateful Heart, Literally?
One study on gratitude immediately caught my attention, probably because I spent years working in cardiac care as a hospital nurse.
Researchers studied 70 people with Stage B heart failure and randomly assigned them to either continue their usual medical care or add a gratitude practice.
For eight weeks, the gratitude group was asked to write down three to five things they were grateful for each day.
And researchers weren’t only asking whether people felt better.
They took blood samples and measured inflammatory biomarkers. They also looked at heart rate variability, or HRV, which gives us information about how the autonomic nervous system is regulating the heart.
After eight weeks, the gratitude group showed a significant reduction over time in a combined measure of inflammatory biomarkers compared with the usual-care group. Researchers also found increased parasympathetic HRV responses while participants were doing a gratitude journaling task, although they did not find a significant difference in resting HRV between the groups (Redwine et al., 2016).
That fascinates me.
I’ve spent years caring for people with heart disease. In cardiac care, we pay attention to medications, blood pressure, heart rhythms, labs, symptoms, activity, diet, fluid status, and all the other things that matter.
And here researchers were asking a very different question:
What happens in the body when people with heart disease intentionally practice gratitude?
This was a small pilot study, so I’m certainly not suggesting a gratitude journal is a treatment for heart disease.
But the fact that researchers found measurable physiological differences at all is interesting to me.
We’re not a collection of completely separate parts.
Our thoughts, emotions, relationships, spiritual lives, behaviors, environments, and physical bodies are constantly interacting.
That’s the whole-person piece I find so fascinating.
https://pixabay.com/photos/daisies-heart-daisy-heart-love-1403041
Gratitude Is Hardly a New Wellness Hack
Long before we were measuring inflammatory markers or putting gratitude journals on bedside tables, people were intentionally practicing gratitude.
Buddhist traditions have long included practices of appreciation and muditā, often described as appreciative or sympathetic joy.
And gratitude is woven throughout Christianity.
Give thanks.
Remember.
Don’t forget what God has done.
For me, gratitude has a spiritual component that goes beyond trying to improve my mood.
Sometimes it’s remembering what has carried me before.
Sometimes it’s recognizing something beautiful I almost rushed past.
Sometimes it’s looking around and realizing:
This is part of the life I once prayed for.
Gratitude Isn’t Pretending Everything Is Good
This part matters.
Gratitude isn’t denial.
You can be grateful and grieving.
Grateful and frustrated.
Grateful and ready for something to change.
You don’t have to tell yourself you shouldn’t be struggling because somebody else has it worse.
And you don’t have to find a silver lining in everything that happens to you.
Gratitude doesn’t erase what’s hard. It helps what’s hard not become the entire picture.
Both can exist.
Don’t Just Think It. Experience It.
There’s a difference between quickly writing:
I’m grateful for my family.
and actually stopping long enough to experience gratitude for them.
Think of something specific.
Something your child said that made you laugh.
Someone showing up when you needed them.
A hug.
A prayer that was answered.
A moment you weren’t sure you’d ever get to experience.
Stay there for a few seconds.
Notice your breathing.
Your chest.
Your face.
Your shoulders.
Maybe something changes. Maybe it doesn’t.
There’s nothing you’re supposed to manufacture.
You’re simply slowing down long enough to let the moment register instead of immediately moving on to the next thing.
Try It Tonight
Think of three things you’re grateful for from today.
Keep them specific.
Instead of:
I’m grateful for my kids.
Try:
I’m grateful for the ridiculous thing my kid said in the car that made me laugh.
Then pick one.
Picture it again.
Stay there for a few seconds.
Let yourself experience it again.
That’s it.
Because maybe becoming more grateful isn’t about trying really hard to have a positive attitude.
Maybe gratitude starts as something you practice.
And eventually, you start noticing what you’re grateful for while you’re actually living it.
Reference
Redwine, L. S., Henry, B. L., Pung, M. A., Wilson, K., Chinh, K., Knight, B., Jain, S., Rutledge, T., Greenberg, B., Maisel, A., & Mills, P. J. (2016). Pilot randomized study of a gratitude journaling intervention on heart rate variability and inflammatory biomarkers in patients with Stage B heart failure. Psychosomatic Medicine, 78(6), 667–676. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000316
