Table of ContentsView AllTable of ContentsGratitude and HealthGratitude Can Develop New ConnectionsGratitude Maintains RelationshipsGratitude and InjusticeHow to Practice More Gratitude
Table of ContentsView All
View All
Table of Contents
Gratitude and Health
Gratitude Can Develop New Connections
Gratitude Maintains Relationships
Gratitude and Injustice
How to Practice More Gratitude
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Ah, the holidays. It’s a time that’s supposed to be so full of joy and yet we often find ourselves struggling to get into that headspace. Thanksgiving is supposed to be a time to reflect on what we are thankful for but it’s not always easy.
This is especially true if you are starting to think more critically about the origin of that holiday, in terms of the darker parts of its history and howIndigenous communitiesare still poorly treated in the US. You might also be thinking about climate change, political division, and wars happening abroad.
But it’s very possible to think intentionally about all the challenges of the moment, and people who are struggling, while also cultivating gratitude and positivity for what’s going right. Thanksgiving gives us an opportunity every year to start a gratitude practice, which has a lot of benefits for mental health even if you only practice it for one weekend with family and friends.
A 2019 review of research studies found that gratitude was linked, beneficially, to social well-being, emotional health, and psychological functioning, and included gratitude journaling, i.e. “writing on a regular basis about things, people, and events one feels explicitly grateful for.”
It may well be worth the effort to develop a gratitude practice with regular activities as a tangible step to improving your mental and emotional health.
In terms of its impact on physical health, a 2020 journal article that provided a systematic review of interventions found the practice of gratitude was associated with improvements in sleep quality, blood pressure, glycemic and asthma control, as well as eating behaviors.
Based on the positive impact on physical health, you have even more of a reason to think seriously about how to incorporate more gratitude into your daily life.
Want to Relieve Stress ASAP? Write in a Gratitude Journal
A 2015 study of 70 undergraduate students demonstrated that “expressions of gratitude facilitate affiliation among previously unacquainted peers and establish support for a mechanism of this effect” based on the willingness of mentors to follow-up with mentees after receiving a handwritten thank-you note.
People may benefit from promoting gratitude and interpersonal warmth with each other when fostering new connections.
According to the Find, Remind, and Bind theory, “gratitude is probably best understood as a mechanism for forming and sustaining the most important relationships of our lives, those with the people we care about and count on from one day to the next.”
A 2017 study shed light on gratitude in interpersonal relationships in terms of “persuasion (e.g., ‘Thank you. I so appreciate you being willing to help me with this task’), identity management (e.g., ‘I am so grateful for the opportunity to be honest with you’), and interaction management (e.g., ‘Thank you for giving me the chance to speak’).”
As seen in these examples, gratitude can be easily expressed in how people communicate with family and friends to maintain relationships.
While gratitude is generally recommended, a thorough discussion would not be complete without putting it in perspective with respect to issues of oppression and privilege.
In this way, preoccupation with generosity and gratitude can take away much-needed attention from issues of oppression and privilege, which are often the underlying source of inequitable outcomes for people.
For the character to show gratitude for what is considered valuable in a white supremacist society, her self-respect would be threatened in terms of potential internalization of Eurocentric beauty standards, which can contribute to anti-Blackness.
While gratitude may be encouraged generally, it is crucial to note “though positive psychology asserts that gratitude can lead to being more beneficent in the world around you, without critical interrogation of how social injustice operates as individual advantage and disadvantage, one can be led away from understanding its structural nature, in favor of pleasure seeking and naivety, through gratitude chronicling or random acts of generosity to others.”
A better understanding of gratitude bodes well for incorporating it in your life in a way that is beneficial without reinforcing the problematic status quo.
Gratitude interventions include:
Gratitude Exercises for the Holiday Season
7 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Jans-Beken L, Jacobs N, Janssens M et al.Gratitude and health: An updated review.J Posit Psychol. 2019;15(6):743-782. doi:10.1080/17439760.2019.1651888
Boggiss A, Consedine N, Brenton-Peters J, Hofman P, Serlachius A.A systematic review of gratitude interventions: Effects on physical health and health behaviors.J Psychosom Res. 2020;135:110165. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2020.110165
Williams L, Bartlett M.Warm thanks: Gratitude expression facilitates social affiliation in new relationships via perceived warmth.Emotion. 2015;15(1):1-5. doi:10.1037/emo0000017
Algoe S.Find, remind, and bind: The functions of gratitude in everyday relationships.Soc Personal Psychol Compass. 2012;6(6):455-469. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2012.00439.x
Yoshimura S, Berzins K.Grateful experiences and expressions: the role of gratitude expressions in the link between gratitude experiences and well-being.Rev Commun. 2017;17(2):106-118. doi:10.1080/15358593.2017.1293836
Allen S.The Science of Gratitude. Berkeley: Greater Good Science Center.
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