Gratitude. What for?

When I first heard about gratitude journaling, I dismissed it as some woo-woo, hippy-dippy thing. “This isn’t relevant to me.” I thought of myself as a man of hard science. But as I grew, I rediscovered it and found that it has enriched my life with powerful insights. Now, I express gratitude as a daily habit to keep me more happy more of the time.

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This week I want to start talking about a few key habits that have helped me get out of a tough spot in life. I’m talking about those times when you’re feeling tired all the time, you don’t feel right mentally, you feel depressed or anxious, or you’re feeling lost in your own mind. As a remedy for this, today I’ll be talking about how to boost and maintain your mental well-being.

The first of these habits is gratitude. This is in no particular order. I actually wanted to talk about gratitude by itself but as I write this I realise that, in my life, it slots in neatly next to a few other habits that equally help to maintain mental well-being. (I will cover these in separate articles.)

What is gratitude?

Professor of psychology Laurie R. Santos breaks down this concept of appreciation into two parts: ‘savouring’ and ‘gratitude’: Savouring is “the simple act of stepping out of your experience to review it and really appreciate it while it’s happening.” Gratitude is the act of being thankful, particularly after the fact.

Why should we show gratitude?

Santos continues her explanation of savouring by explaining why we might want to do it: “savouring can boost our mood in at least three ways. First, savouring can make us remember the good stuff in life. Second, savouring can help thwart mind wandering. It keeps us in the moment. And finally, savouring can help us increase gratitude. It can make us thankful for the experiences we're having as we're having them.”

As for gratitude, Santos has this to say: “the simple act of experiencing gratitude has a host of positive benefits. Experiencing gratitude can increase your mood and lower your stress levels. It can even strengthen your immune system and lower your blood pressure. Experiencing gratitude also can make you feel a stronger social connection, which itself has this whole host of positive benefits.”

How can we show gratitude?

With savouring, Santos advises: “first off, you just have to take part in a positive experience, and then you have to savour during that experience. Take a second to realise why it makes you happy. You can use your phone to help you by taking a picture which will help you remember it later.”

With regards to gratitude, Santos says: “Start by writing things down that you're grateful for. As you write and take your photos, really take a moment to try to experience the gratitude you're thinking about.”

Now it’s your turn

Imagine yourself in that experience that you enjoy a lot. Maybe it’s a sport, partying, dancing, or simply hanging out with friends. For me, I’m thinking about playing basketball on the indoor courts, here on campus. I urge you, next time you’re there, stop and think about how much fun you’re having. After the fact, perhaps at the end of your day, before you get to sleep, you could write a few words in a journal about the experiences that you have appreciated from the day. You may find that your perspective on life changes and you will start enjoying life a whole lot more.

Now, I want to make this clear: It doesn’t have to be a grandiose thing. You do not have to write pages and pages, an entire thesis, on a daily basis. A few simple words will be fine. I am thankful for the days finally getting longer after this long winter. I am thankful for this water bottle. I was thirsty a moment ago but this water bottle made it so that I could quench my thirst. Yes, even little things like that.

You can keep a physical journal with pen and paper or you can make notes digitally. You don’t have to look back and read them but you can - so you may want to keep these journal entries somewhat organised and accessible.

Personally, I prefer digital. I write my journal in a program called Notion. If you don’t know much about Notion, all you need to know for now is that it allows me to make notes and keep them organised. Specifically, I have programmed a template for me to fill in each day:

I don’t always get to fill in each sub-heading every day but I prioritise writing at least one thing I am grateful for each day.

The big question you all have is probably this: Has gratitude made me a happier person? Now, I feel the need to dispel the notion that this is some amazing, magical transformation that I experience. It’s a little more subtle than that and it builds over time but it’s definitely something positive I experience in my life.

Notes

A lot of the information in this article is from an online course by Laurie R. Santos at Yale University. It’s called “The Science of Well-Being” and if you’re interested in what I’m talking about I would highly recommend you go check it out. It’s entirely free and full of value. Link here. If you’ve never taken an online course before and you’re doubting its efficacy, I’d compare it to reading a book except you have someone asking you questions along the way so that you actually remember what you’re reading. Give it a go, you won’t regret it!