Why Gratitude?

Below is an excerpt from my book, The Power of Pivot: A Female Perspective on Embracing Change, (Now available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DRXLVB4)

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The word gratitude itself derives from the Latin word gratia, which means grace, graciousness, or gratefulness and is best exemplified by the phrase, “ex gratia,” which means something that is done voluntarily, or “out of grace.” For Mother Teresa, she knew that even the simplest expressions of care ex gratia toward others is what one should strive for, even if it brings you into uncomfortable and even undesirable circumstances.

For us, regardless of age or socio-economic status, among a myriad of other mostly uncontrollable factors, we still have the power to choose to practice gratitude and express servitude. Of course, this doesn’t have to mean quitting your job and moving to a struggling community. We don’t have to look far to find ways to help, and we can express service to others right in our own local communities. For both Mother Teresa and you, gratitude can serve as the highest means by which people can care best for the world.

What’s the benefit of practicing gratitude and how can I do so?

Other than the power of helping others and spearheading rapid social change to those in the world facing some of the most intense inequality and discrimination, there’s a psychological case (as alluded to above) to practicing the discipline of gratitude and integrating it into your daily life. Some research points to gratitude helping to lessen the duration and frequency of episodes of depression, quicker recovery from mentally traumatic situations, or even stronger relationship building.

Even simple acts of gratitude can go a long way. One specific study by a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania had 411 participants complete various writing assignments, one of which was to write a thank you to someone in their childhood who had never properly been acknowledged. Upon writing the thank you, participants immediately saw a significant increase in happiness, which was greater than any of the other assignments, and the benefits lasted for a month. The study didn’t account for the increase in happiness or wellbeing for those that received the letters, but it’s not unreasonable to extend this logic to deduce it to be significant as well.

A financial case also appears to exist in the practice of cultivating gratitude at scale. Another experiment at the University of Pennsylvania divided university fundraisers into groups that either made calls to alumni in the same way it was always done, while the other group received a pep talk from the director of annual giving, who expressed her thanks and gratitude for the students’ hard work. The next week, the employees who received the gratitude message made 50 percent more fund-raising calls than those who hadn’t. This points to the idea of gratitude, beyond its personal benefits, to be a factor in altering external outcomes at large.

On the persona level, Robert Emmons, author of Thanks!, provides a general framework for cultivating gratitude:

• Look for the good (Joy): Have a mindset toward positivity. Even if it’s the simple things, think about what good exists in your life.
• Receive the good (Grace): Accept the good. When life seems almost “too good,” it’s easy to discount your “luck” and fall into a false belief that, “this must mean things are going to get bad really soon.” Don’t fall into the trap, fully accept the goodness you’ve realized.
• Give back the good (Love): Think of ways you can spread this positivity and gratitude toward others. If you feel grateful for someone in your life, express it. As one quote goes, “In the end, we only regret the chances we didn’t take.”

Within this structure, there are many tactical actions one can take to implement gratitude into your own life. You could practice keeping a daily gratitude journal, writing a thank you letter, or meditating. Perhaps one of our greatest inhibitors to executing this framework is the concept of self-serving bias because it supposes that when good things happen to you, it’s because of something you yourself did, but when bad things happen, you blame external factors. With awareness of this, you can remember that gratitude is about finding the gratefulness you can experience internally regardless of external circumstances.

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In this article series, I share excerpts, stories, and musings from my book, The Power of Pivot. I hope you enjoyed this post — if you enjoyed it and want to connect you can reach me via email [thepowerofpivot@gmail.com], or through my website: http://www.thepowerofpivot.co/#/