What is gratitude?

Gratitude isn't a new concept. It is one that has been around for centuries. It is also true that this subject has been the study of many philosophers and great thinkers throughout history. They understood the impact of appreciating the abundance in your life on your happiness, wellbeing and mindset.

Gratitude is more than just saying “thank you”; it is about being aware of the goodness in your life and taking time to acknowledge it.

Gratitude turns what little you have into abundance and changes your perspective on your world.

By definition gratitude is an emotion similar to appreciation (a sense of happiness and thankfulness for something).

Gratitude is both a trait and a state. You can experience gratitude for someone or something at a certain moment in time. By extension, an individual can become acquainted with the kind of robust gratitude which is long-term and is a part of a multitude of positive character traits.

According to Dr. Robert Emmons, the feeling of gratitude involves two stages.

First, comes the acknowledgment of goodness in your life. In a state of gratitude, you say yes to life. We affirm that, all in all, life is good and there are elements that make it worth living.

The second stage is in recognizing that sources of this goodness lie outside yourself. You can be grateful to your creator, other people, animals, and the world, but not to yourself.

Gratitude can also be considered either a dispositional trait or a state of being. As a trait, it is a practise that someone incorporates into their daily life. And can be considered a character strength that may be enhanced with awareness and practice.

When you experience an emotion as a result of someone expressing gratitude for you, it is referred to as a state.

What are the benefits

There is a lot of research and articles that express the positive impact of practicing and showing gratitude. Being grateful can improve your health, relationships, careers, sleep, and self-esteem, to name just a few advantages. It has also been proven to calm the nerves and the mind too – helping with anxiety and depression.

In recent years, scientific studies have shown that the brain is “rewired” by continuous grateful thoughts. 

The process of noticing the abundance in your life can redirect your focus from what is troubling or worrying you to what lifts your spirit. Shifting from negative to positive thinking, and energy. It helps to give you perspective of what’s important, and it allows you to let go of the need to control. Resultantly this creates space for greater calmness and serenity.

Gratitude can boost mental wellbeing - regularly practicing gratitude can improve mood and potentially reduce anxiety and depression. It’s a powerful tool for fostering resilience and supporting mental health, helping us balance out negative thought patterns.

Gratitude can support physical health - Gratitude is associated with better sleep, a stronger immune system, and lower blood pressure. One study even showed that gratitude journaling (see the tips section below) lowered inflammation in heart failure patients, potentially upping survival rates.

Gratitude often enhances relationships - Gratitude can strengthen relationships by recognizing and valuing the goodness in others, which in turn nurtures love and connection.

Gratitude can help boost your self-esteem - Gratitude also plays a role in how we see and value ourselves. Used regularly, it can enhance our self-esteem, allowing us to appreciate other people’s accomplishments without feeling envious.

How does it fit with the law of attraction and vibrational energy

The discussions of the last couple of weeks have been about how like attract like, raising your positive energy and letting go of negative limiting beliefs. Practising gratitude is a powerful way of being able to shift your thoughts from the sense of lack, fear and judgement – low vibrational energy emotions to higher positive ones such as happiness, joy and abundance. 

In this shift, you are more able to envision your desires and dreams and through the law of attraction bring more positive feelings and situations into your life.

Gratitude, how to do it and yoga

The good news is that there are different ways to be able to practise.

• Starting a gratitude journal – making a note each day of things that make you smile or for which you are thankful. They don’t have to be earth shattering. In fact, noticing the little things can make a bigger impact than the bigger things.

• Gratitude letter a letter to someone, or even yourself, expressing your thanks to them for what they have done for you and how they have helped you. You can then choose whether to send it.

• Meditation Mindful gratitude – taking a moment to close your eyes or just notice around you.

• Gratitude walks – when you go for a walk intentionally noticing what is around you by tuning into your five senses. Noticing the sights, sounds, sensations, scent, and taste around you.

• Gratitude countdown – everyday counting down from 10 and noting 10 things that you appreciate – again these don't have to be big things – a warm cup of tea might be something.

• Gratitude jar – writing down things you are grateful for and putting them in a jar – this can be particularly helpful on days that you are finding more challenging – the jar has reminders for what you are thankful.

• Expressing gratitude to loved ones – telling people what you appreciate about them is, not only a great way of raising your energy, but it will also raise theirs and in doing so strengthen the bond between you.

There are many ways you can start to incorporate gratitude practices into your life, and they don't have to take a great deal of time or effort.

A simple way to get started is to say thank you to yourself each time you step onto your yoga mat, being thankful for the time you have taken out to be there. From there you might be grateful for your sense of curiosity in exploring the poses and breath-work or you might appreciate the strength in your body for achieving what it manages.

Each time you are grateful you raise your energy and send a positive message to the universe.

Remember the wise words of Buddha – what you feel you attract – if you feel that you have reasons to be grateful, more reasons will be brought into your life.

In conclusion

Gratitude is an emotion associated with feelings of thankfulness and appreciation.

There are many research studies that have proven the positive effects of practising gratitude from improving mental health and supporting physical health, to improving relationships and increasing self-esteem.

There are different ways to practise gratitude. You can keep a journal of things that make you smile, you can tell loved ones of why you appreciate them, create a gratitude jar and meditate to help be more mindful and present. Your yoga practise can help too by giving you the opportunity to notice what you can achieve and enabling you to be more present.

However, gratitude feels hard sometimes. And that’s okay. When stress strikes, burnout bites, or depression looms, it’s not always helpful to force yourself to feel grateful.

Authentic gratitude only comes when you honour where you’re at anyway — even if you are sad or mad or lonely.

If you are currently in a place which is difficult and challenging, then give yourself permission to *not* feel grateful.

Allow yourself to feel however you’re feeling. You can feel grateful next week, or next month, or whenever it feels right for you.

Life is constantly giving you opportunities to challenge the self-talk. To notice what is going on around you, maybe you could just work on reframing whatever it is you have going on and put it in a different light. Look at it with new eyes, the eyes of creation and hope.