We live in an incredible time. Unlike many our forefathers, we don’t have to spend most of our lives just trying to meet our basic human needs. The human race has more leisure time, more food security, and more capacity to connect than ever before. 

With all our newfound freedom, we also have the time for lifestyle design, which means making daily choices about what’s good for our health. When we think about health, the most common things we focus on are the food we eat and the exercises we do. However, choosing what mental habits we engage in is one of the best ways to improve our health overall.

There has been revolutionary science in the last several years that have taught us about habits that will make us healthier and happier. And one of the main things that have come up has been the act of GRATITUDE. Gratitude is one easy habit that has massive life-changing impacts. 

What is Gratitude?

When we’re children, we’re not taught about the depths of gratitude. We’re made to say “thanks,” when someone gives up a gift or passes the potatoes, but we miss out on the understanding of the deep sensations that can accompany being grateful. 

The Latin root of the word is gratia, which has to do with generousness, kindness, gifts, and graciousness. We are grateful when we perceive a positive personal outcome that we didn’t create or earn. It is often due to someone else's actions, and is an affirmation of goodness in the world.

The definition of gratitude is two-fold- Firstly, we have to notice that we’ve gained a positive outcome. And secondly, we recognize that the source for this positive outcome comes from outside ourselves. While this explains the mechanism, it doesn’t quite reach the depth of the emotion that should be present when we are overtaken with the awe and joy of feeling supported by something we didn’t earn.

How Gratitude Enhances Our Lives

Most religions (and most parents) teach us that gratitude is a moral obligation. However, science now knows that practicing gratitude can drastically change our lives. 

In 2003 there was a study at Berkley titled, “Counting Blessings Versus Burdens: An Experimental Investigation of Gratitude and Subjective Well-Being in Daily Life.” The study had three test groups. The first group was made to write down things they were grateful for, the second group had to write down irritating things, and the third group had to write down neutral things. 

The people who wrote down things they were grateful for were measurably happier, naturally focused on even more positive things, and had more measured incidences of helping people around them. The most important thing to note is that the people in the gratitude group have just as many negative or neutral things that happen to them as the other groups. 

The focus was the essential part. Focusing on the good changes your perception and allows you to see more good.

This is why we call gratitude a practice. It’s easier for us to focus on the bad more than the good. Fear and negativity are evolutionary traits that help protect us from danger. But focusing on the bad does not help boost our happiness or quality of life. 

When we practice gratitude, we approach our day with an attitude of the glass being half-full. If we look for the positive in everything, then every tiny good thing adds to that cup until it eventually overflows. By developing the capacity to focus on the good, we’ll begin to experience the life-enhancing benefits life has to offer. 

Six Scientifically Proven Benefits of Gratitude

1. Gratitude enhances relationships and gives you more opportunities.

Warm thanks: gratitude expression facilitates social affiliation in new relationships via perceived warmth

2. Gratitude helps you be physically healthier.

Examining the Pathways between Gratitude and Self-Rated Physical Health across Adulthood

The Neural Basis of Human Social Values: Evidence from Functional MRI

The Role of Gratitude in Spiritual Well-Being in Asymptomatic Heart Failure Patients

Evidence for the role of the oxytocin system, indexed by genetic variation in CD38, in the social bonding effects of expressed gratitude

3. Gratitude helps your mental health.

Gratitude and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in Vietnam war veterans

4. Gratitude Reduces aggression and creates more empathy.

Gratitude as an Antidote to Aggression

5. Gratitude helps you sleep better.

Effects of Constructive Worry, Imagery Distraction, and Gratitude Interventions on Sleep Quality

6. Gratitude helps your self-esteem.

Gratitude enhances change in athletes’ self-esteem

The relationships among gratitude, self-esteem, depression, and suicidal ideation among undergraduate students

How to Enhance Gratitude

The easiest way to create more gratitude in your life is to wake up every day and write down one thing you’re grateful for. Just pick one thing, be it an event, a thing, or a person, and write it down. Take a second to focus on that thing you’re grateful for. Let the sensations wash over you and feel deep in your bones just how lucky you are. 

By starting your day with this shift in focus, you’ll create a whole bunch of positive emotions that can change your day. This will affect your health and your body and have a dramatic impact on your mind. 

Want to enhance this process? Try writing things down three times a day. When you get good at gratitude, you can also apply it to times in your life when something has gone wrong. When you’re feeling irritated, take a second to think about one good thing about the situation. This will dramatically shift your irritation, and possibly even the outcome!