How Cultivating Gratitude Can Lead to More Optimism, Joy and Wellbeing

Does gratitude come naturally to you, or is it something you have to work on to feel?

For many people, gratitude does not come naturally because many of us are wired to have a negativity bias, where negative events are more noticeable and impactful on us than positive ones. Cultivating gratitude can help retrain your way of thinking so that the positives feel more significant, which will cause a catalyst of positive changes in your mood, behaviors and disposition.

What is gratitude?

Gratitude is a positive emotion that leads to feelings of optimism, joy and wellbeing.

Gratitude is being appreciative or thankful for everything we have – whether material or sentimental. According to researchers Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough, gratitude first involves recognizing the positives in your life and then acknowledging that an external source may have been at play in helping you receive those positive outcomes.

Gratitude can also be considered a personality trait that predisposes certain people to naturally feel more grateful than others. But whether you were born with this predisposition or not, anyone can learn to experience more gratitude with time and practice.

Why is gratitude so powerful?

Believe it or not, gratitude has the power to change your brain. Studies show that those who practice gratitude or generally feel grateful have greater activation in the medial prefrontal cortex when they experience gratitude. What this translates to is that those who practice gratitude consistently can train their brains to notice and appreciate gratitude even more.

This also means that if you tend to think negatively, gratitude can help you shift your mindset so that optimism comes more naturally.  

Gratitude helps you live and celebrate the present, and it helps you find joy in the small moments. Too often, we get caught up in worries or what we’re lacking and forget to recognize everything that’s right in front of us. When we worry too much about the future, it can cause anxiety, and focusing on what we don’t have can lead to depression. The more we live in the present and appreciate all we currently have, the more we cherish its value and feel grounded. Living in gratitude helps magnify the good so you can stay focused on the now and feel more profound and long-lasting happiness.

What the research says about gratitude

Gratitude has been studied and researched at length, and there are good reasons why cultivating it is recommended to anyone looking to improve their wellbeing.

Research by Dr. Robert Emmons, the world’s leading expert on gratitude, indicates that people report several benefits across their physical, psychological and social wellbeing when they practice gratitude consistently.

Some of the benefits reported include:

• Lower blood pressure
• Taking better care of their health through diet and exercise
• Sleeping longer and better
• More joy, happiness and optimism
• Better focus and alertness
• More helpful and compassionate toward others
• More forgiving
• Feeling less lonely
• Reduced stress, anxiety and depression

Research also indicates that being grateful and expressing gratitude can improve relationships in all areas of your life. For example, studies have shown that grateful couples are more satisfied in their relationships, feel closer to each other and are more likely to stay together.

Additionally, gratitude boosts happiness and empathy – making us more helpful, collaborative, encouraging and compassionate toward others. These traits can lead to stronger friendships and relationships with coworkers.

Furthermore, a study that sought to examine if a gratitude practice could improve mental health found that those who wrote gratitude letters reported significantly improved mental health 4 to 12 weeks after the exercise ended, compared to those who only received counseling or were asked to write about negative experiences. This shows that cultivating gratitude works because it contributes toward stronger emotional resilience helping you manage stress and cope with complicated feelings better.

Four Ways To Cultivate More Gratitude

1. Write a gratitude letter to someone

Think of someone who’s positively impacted your life or been kind to you, and write them a letter expressing why that’s meant so much to you. Reflecting on why you’re grateful for someone will instantly bring up positive feelings of warmth and joy. Then, plan to deliver your letter in person and read it out loud, or mail it if that’s not possible. Even if you choose not to deliver it to the recipient, you will still feel plenty of uplifting benefits from reflecting on and writing down your gratitude for this person.

2. Keep a gratitude journal

Whether you prefer a traditional journal or a bullet journal, writing at least one thing you’re grateful for daily is the best way to cultivate a consistent gratitude practice. Of course, if you’d rather write more each day, that’s great! Another way to journal about gratitude is to think of one thing you’re grateful for each day and write a brief paragraph on why it’s so impactful for you. Doing this will help you strengthen the emotional connection you feel toward that gratitude item.

3. Reflect on your blessings

Write a list of everything you feel blessed with – from the mundane to the bigger things. Sometimes it may help to think of things that others don’t as readily have to help us recognize the little things we might take for granted on a daily basis, such as a homemade meal, functioning heat and hot water in the winter, or a loving family. Then, refer back to your list often, especially when you’re feeling down or discouraged, to help lift you and remind you of all the beautiful things that add so much value to your life.

4. Train yourself to see the positives in any situation

Not everything in life will go to plan, and sometimes you might miss out on opportunities you felt you deserved – when this happens, you can either wallow and fixate on what went wrong or focus on what went right. Gratitude is about facing adversity and finding the silver lining even when things look grim. Hanging onto that glimmer of light is what can help pull you out of the darkness and bounce back. So, the next time something doesn’t go in your favor, ask yourself… “What have I learned from this experience?” and “Were there any unexpected positive outcomes that came from this?”