What Can Gratitude Do for You?

Research shows that experiencing gratitude enhances the quality of our lives. And what better time to start practicing gratitude than during the holidays?

In Robert Emmons’s book, Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, his studies indicate that practicing gratitude on a daily basis results in higher levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism, and energy.

In addition, those who practice gratitude:

 Experience less depression and stressAre more likely to help othersExercise more regularlyMake greater progress on personal goals

Other benefits of practicing gratitude include:

Increased creativityA quicker recovery from adversityA healthier immune systemStronger social relationships

Practicing gratitude does not require a perfect life. It simply means that you are consciously looking for things to be thankful for on a daily basis.

Here are some practical steps you can take to practice gratitude:

1. Create a journal—hard copy or on your computer. 

2. For one week take 5 or 10 minutes—at the beginning or end of your day—and ask yourself the following questions:

What am I grateful for?Whom am I grateful to? Whom should I say “thank you” to? Why? What have I been able to accomplish? Who or what is the source of that accomplishment?Whom can I acknowledge? And for what?What can I acknowledge myself for?

3. After a week of practicing gratitude, jot down any changes you have seen in the areas of creativity, happiness, well-being, and progress towards goals. Also, note anything you’ve discovered about yourself and others since starting the practice.

After you see firsthand the benefits of this, I invite you to commit to a daily practice of gratitude for the rest of this year. (It takes 21 days to establish a new habit, according to one expert.) After that you may want to continue the practice indefinitely!

If you take on this gratitude practice I promise it will make a major difference in your life.

—Ilene Fischer, Partner, Mark Kamin and Associates